A director didn’t give me a movie role because I refused to sleep with him—actress Akofa Edjeani

Veteran Ghanaian actress and producer Akofa Edjeani has disclosed a startling experience she encountered in her career, revealing that she lost a movie role because she refused to sleep with her director.

The public at large, especially women who aspire to be actors, will be shocked by what she disclosed. She acknowledges that sexual harassment occurs in all walks of life, but claims that the entertainment industry is a hotbed of this behavior.

Akofa explained some of the difficulties faced by women in the entertainment business on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z.

“I remember we were shooting somewhere after Kumasi, I think. Unfortunately, the producer was a Nigerian. We were going to shoot two movies back to back. So based on that, the executive producer had begged me to bring my rates down, that because we were doing two movies he would pay a certain amount, which reluctantly I agreed to.

”Now here is the director who asked me to come to his room. “Come to your room and do what?” I said. He said ‘to watch a movie’. “Watch what movie?” I asked. I mean come on, whatever you want to tell me, I don’t need to come to your room’. He wanted something else. I said ‘like seriously?’ Are you serious?

The actress, who also happens to be an entrepreneur, went on to say that she was passed over for the second film because she refused to comply with the director’s advances. She continued.

“It turned out that not going to his room led to the next movie I watched. Upon inquiring, the executive producer informed me that the director was handling casting. However, I countered, saying, “You were paying me this amount because we agreed to shoot two movies.” And he said there was nothing he could do about it because it was the director that did the casting.”

For the most part, Akorfa claimed that she has never caved into sexual demands for movie roles because she has always believed in her talent.

Thus, she counseled young ladies who wish to pursue careers in the creative fields to have faith in their skills and avoid falling for such men’s deceit.