In a recent interview on Midday Live on TV3, Ghanaian actor Adjetey Anang has shared his thoughts on the negative feedback he has received following the release of his memoir, Adjetey Anang; A Story of Faith, Imperfection, and Resilience.
The renowned Ghanaian actor known for his remarkable achievements in the film and entertainment industry released the memoir on Saturday, July 8, 2023, to mark his 50th birthday in a grand manner.
Expressing his disappointment with the prevailing negativity, Anang highlighted the irony of Africans criticizing the West for perpetuating negative stereotypes about the continent while simultaneously engaging in similar behaviour amongst themselves.
“It was expected, I knew that people will go the way they were going. I find it as such an irony because I’ve heard so many people criticize the West for painting Africa in all those negativity and now we are doing a bit worse,” he shared.
He emphasized the need to focus on the positives and draw lessons from these experiences, rather than sensationalizing and perpetuating negativity.
“So we have no right to condemn them or judge them if we are doing that to ourselves because our focus is mainly sensationalising whatever we put out there and negating what without looking at the positives that would happen in our lives,” he added.
He stressed that continuously harping on negative aspects only perpetuates them further.
“If you keep on harping on the negatives, what do you expect, it’ll be repeated but what are the lessons to learn out of these things,” he advised.
The actor popularly known as Pusher lamented the tendency of Ghanaians to latch onto one word or phrase without fully understanding the context.
He cited examples of instances where his words in the memoir had been misconstrued, leading to misinterpretations and subsequent negative conversations.
“To the point where people are stringing their own headlines. Some of the things I’ve seen I’ve just been laughing because there’s no point in the book I asked my wife for forgiveness. It’s there clearly or there’s no point to suggest that all these girls…please. It’s just for people to get an understanding,” he cited
Instead, he encouraged individuals to look beyond sensationalized headlines and analyze the content for themselves.
“People don’t read so somebody says a word and people take it up and that’s a whole new conversation without analysing the book for themselves. We are just a negative kind of people most of the time and it’s just unfortunate so that will be my response to what has happened so far,” he concluded.
