In a recent interview with TVC, Nigerian actress Mercy Aigbe opened up about the prevalent issue of “s3x for roles” in the entertainment industry, both globally and in Nigeria.
She shared her firsthand experience with this phenomenon, shedding light on the challenges faced by upcoming actors who may be pressured into compromising situations for favorable roles.
Speaking about her experience with sex for roles, Mercy Aigbe said:
MERCY AIGBE: Let me briefly share my own experience. So we used to gather at Surulere then and I met this producer, and I was like “oh sir, I’m talented, I want to go into acting” blah blah blah, and then he said oh, he has an upcoming film, and that I should come to his office for audition. And then I went for audition first level, second one, third one, and then the last one that I went—I actually thought I did well because I gave it my all. I would go home, rehearse, read my lines, just to convince them that I had that talent. So that last one, he just called me into his office and just gave me one very tiny part, maybe just one line, when I was auditioning for the sub-lead. I was like “but sir, this is not the character I’ve been auditioning for, I’ve been coming here for days now, why am I getting this part?” He now said actually, the director said that he doesn’t know you. And I was like is that not the essence of the audition? So he now said “he doesn’t know you and that’s why I said you should be close to me.” Apparently he had been making passes at me before then but he didn’t come out straight until that day. And then he stood up and was trying to touch me. I was just very upset! Just thinking back, I was livid. I was like you can’t do this to me. I earned this role. So why are you now doing this? And then I told him I don’t even want to be part of this production anymore. I was just so upset and that was a huge insult on my person. On my way home, I started crying because I left a good paying job to be an actress, and then, I was already a single mom. But guess what? Fast forward to today and that producer, nobody knows him anymore.