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Exclusive
Interview with JOHN STAR, CHAIRMAN AFRICAN STYLES, USA RECORDS, and
African Star Management.
The
African Award Saga in USA; What Actually Happened? The John Star
Interview.
BELOW
IS THE COMPLETE TEXT
Recently, an African Movie and Music Award event was scheduled for three cities in USA (Boston, New York, and Maryland). After the scheduled dates came and passed,
some reports were that the event was a flop. Some African newspapers and magazines published bits
suggesting that the event was a failure. Some even went as far as linking the failure to the unfortunate stigma – “419”. However,
the question that begged to be asked remained - what actually happened or caused the failure?
African Events (AE) can now authoritatively bring you this exclusive interview with John Star (JS) the man at the head of the outfits that organized the event. It was an exclusive interview and
quite a revealing conversation. Be the judge.
AE: We heard and read from several sources that an event you organized to hold in the United States of America - the African Movie And Music
Award, was a fluke and a flop. Let us begin by asking you directly, was the event a fluke and a flop?
JS: No doubt, the event did not go as planned, but I am very disappointed in the way the whole thing was reported by some media organizations especially a certain African Newspaper in which I spent quite a good sum advertising the event. I advertised in this African Newspaper bi-weekly for 2 months and when things did not turn out well, the Publisher/Editor turned around to slam me instead of finding out what really happened.
AE: Certainly, people were very disappointed that those they expected did not show up.
JS: I can understand their disappointment but I did not make any false advertising as this African newspaper claimed. In my ad contract with this paper, we agreed on the items to be advertised and if he goes ahead to use his own terms such as Nollywood Stars on the front page when I did not ask about that, how can the Publisher/Editor turn around and accuse me of false advertising? I did not use such phrases like Nollywood Stars in the contract I had with the paper.
AE: Do you mean that you never used the phrase Nollywood Stars?
JS: I never believed in using Nollywood to represent an event comprising the entire Africa. That would be an insult
to other African Artists? It would seem to limit the award to Nigeria.
AE: To our recollection, all your nominees come from Nigeria. Why did you not involve Artists from other African Countries if you do not prefer to use the term “Nollywood?”
JS: This is nothing against Nigeria. Our intention has always been to eventually involve other artists from other parts of Africa. I had to start with the people I know – Nigerian actors. Besides, Nigerian artists dominate the industry. Hollywood is the name of a location. There is no such location as Nollywood in Nigeria. It was easier to start from people I know, that is why I went to Nigeria and stayed for 3 weeks trying to set things up. I did a good work in Nigeria. I went to many radio and TV stations in Nigeria promoting these events to make sure the nominees were given their visas.
I got tickets for them. I paid for their Hotels in Boston. This is all because I believed in Nigeria and Africa. I wanted people here to know about these artists.
AE: If you did all that, why did the event fail?
JS: One simple reason. The season. There were no available seats for the stars to travel. I upgraded their seats to first class just to make sure they got seats to travel, and it still did not work out. Nobody deceived me. These nominees wanted to come. They loved to come. They were glad to come. They just did not have
seats in the plane to travel. They signed nominee contracts with us. They were committed but things just didn’t work out. Those who signed performance contracts were there to perform.
AE: When you knew things would not work, why did you not cancel the event? Why let people belief the event would hold till the last moment?
JS: Instinct. Up to the last moment, we were meant to belief that the nominees were still going to be here. They were all at the airport trying to make their flights. One of them got
as far as London. Even after the Boston incident we still thought they would make New York.
AE: Most of the guests did not get the benefit of such an explanation. Some of them therefore concluded that the show was a fraud. Much as AfricanEvents.com may hate to ask, do you blame people who thought like this given the image problems faced by Nigeria?
JS: In fact I satisfied about fifty percent of the show. I have been to shows where most of the big names never show and they still went on. In this case, we gave back monies at the gate and we are still asking people to go to the vendors and get their refunds. I have not touched a dime from the monies received since my contract with the vendors was that my company will be paid six days after the event. Why would people then think it is a fraud? Among the 5 stars 2 came. I provided 50% yet no sympathy from some people. I expected prayers and consolation not slamming. I have all the papers to show that we signed all necessary contracts and made all expected payments including the booking for the Baltimore convention center in Maryland, even though a certain African Newspaper was alleging that we did not pay for it. It is not fair for people to call this a 419 affair. I am not even familiar with 419 until someone explained the meaning to me recently. There are good and true Nigerian businessmen. I expected some sympathy from the Publisher of the African Newspaper with whom I advertised. I expected him to suggest ways to recoup rather than slamming and insulting me. I have decided not to insult this Publisher because I believe in the African tradition of not insulting one’ senior.
AE: Talking about Africa, in an article titled “Suggestions For The Sustenance of African Artistic Heritage,”
written before your event, our Chief Editor, Oliver Mbamara called for an African Award for African Artists, but suggested that it be held in an African country not outside Africa. Why did you choose to host this event in the United States?
JS: These stars are not mobbed or idolized by fellow Africans or Nigerians back in Africa. People know them and say hi, but they don’t rush to them for autographs and things like that. Most of our people are actually interested in what you can do for them, not just in the fact that you are a star. So, if you do a show like this in Nigeria or South Africa or anywhere else in Africa it will not get the response and respect. If there is nothing they are getting, people may not go there. But because of the pressure Africans go through in this country (USA), they appreciate these stars.
AE: Well, most of these fans that wanted to see these stars were disappointed by the failure of the event regardless of the reason. Obviously, the already beleaguered image of Nigeria did suffer additional damage and the authenticity of Nollywood or the Nigerian movie industry is facing its biggest test yet outside Africa. We observe that damage control has not been easy. What are your plans to prove to the public that this whole thing was not a fraud?
JS: It is difficult to do damage control for a thing like this. But I am sure things will be fixed. I am confident that the publisher of the African paper slamming me will not succeed. I have asked that all monies be refunded. That is an essential damage control move. I did not go into this with an intention to make money so I am not discouraged by the loss. I will redo the show to compensate for the disappointment suffered by the attendees. I have learnt a lot from this experience and I am open to positive ideas. Some people of this world stay around you when they see things are good. They run away from you when they think everything is bad. But this will not discourage me. I am still committed to putting Africa’s name up there.
AE: It has been nice talking with you.
JS: It is my pleasure and thank you for doing this interview.
AfricanEvents.com, September 11, 2004 |
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