Charly Boy caused quite a stir on Tuesday, June 18, 2012, when he walked into the Lagos High Court and filed a lawsuit of N1b against the National Mirror newspaper.
According to Charly Boy, he’s suing the daily newspaper because it published a story claiming he said in an interview that he was gay and a member of the secret cult-like group, the Illuminati. The case was filed in by Charly Boy’s lawyer and representative Ope Banwo.
The ‘Area Father’, who was followed and surrounded by bike riders, then held a press conference a few blocks away.
‘If any publication calls Charly Boy gay, I think it’s a fair comment. He’s in the public domain, people will always speculate. But it’s wrong to out-rightly report that in an interview he actually said so. That’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed’, Charly Boy’s counsel Ope Banwo said.
The lawyer claimed he had written to the daily newspaper demanding an apology to be published in four different dailies, but received no response from them.
‘It is unfortunate this is happening to me. You all know me, I’m never bothered about any of this news but I’m shocked of this timid, Mungo Parkish way of thinking. I have put tenacity, focus and hardwork in the 35 years of building this brand. I think I deserve more’, Charly Boy told the crowd.
‘You can’t appreciate the brand if you can’t look past the antics of the brand. You have to have depth. You can think and have your own opinion, but as responsible journalists, we all should know there are rules of the game. I have nothing against people. I have gay people as friends, everybody is my friend as long as you are positive thinking’ he continued.
Banwo said the ‘false story’ had already begun having a negative effect, as companies working with Charly Boy were already considering dropping him from their brands. ‘The position at the MCSN (Music Copyright Society of Nigeria) is already being threatened’, he saidd.
Meanwhile, Charly Boy is giving The Daily Independent, who also published the story, a week to publish an apology.
This will be the second homosexuality lawsuit in recent times, after singer Asa’s N700m court case with News of The People weekly tabloid.
News credit: TheNet
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