‘I never referred to your child as dog’ — AY Makun replies Seun Kuti

AY Makun, the Nigerian comedian, has addressed the recent allegation levelled against him by Seun Kuti, the Afrobeat singer. 

In a recent live session, Seun said he mocked AY when his house got burnt, “because he portrayed my daughter as a dog” in a skit satirising his clash with a police officer on a highway.

Reacting in a video shared via Instagram, AY denied ever portraying Seun’s child as a “dog” in his skits.

The comedian advised Seun to have a “broader sense of humour”. He also pointed out “we both learned from Fela Kuti”, the singer’s late father, “who used humour for social commentary”.

“I made a decision to respond to this because he mentioned that I addressed his baby as a dog. For me, I love kids. I am one human being who looked for kids for like 13 years. I do not think I would find myself in a position to mock another living being as a child and refer to that child as a dog,” he said.

“For some reason, I know that you have traveled far and wide. Your sense of humour should be more open to jokes if we say it is a joke and then you can take it as a joke. You throw shades, Seun. Nobody comes for you.

“Your dad used to do ‘yabbings’ night. Yabbing everybody in politics. He used to do all of that and people go there to laugh because they know that he is a social commentator. He is doing his job. We are doing the same thing. So, I do not see why you take offence on my own. Your father taught us this job.”

The comedian said if anyone was supposed to be offended by the skit, it was Hilda Baci, the record-winning chef, adding that she “understood that it was a joke”.

“Now, the skit was a reflection of trending issues. I talked about fuel subsidy which was trending at that time. And if I recall, at that time, Hilda Baci and Enioluwa were both trending for eating dog meat,” he said.

“And a woman called them out. And then I mentioned the name Hilda [in the scene where the dog was sitting in the back seat of the car in the skit]. That was what I was portraying in that video.”