INTERVIEW: Why I don’t create skits on rape, children, by Mr Macaroni

Mr. Macaroni is a Nollywood actor, content creator, and activist. Born ADEBOWALE ADEDAYO, the 30-year-old comic star attracted huge popularity during the October 2020 #EndSARS protest.  Since then, he has become a household name in showbiz. In this interview with TheCable Lifestyle’s PELUMI BOLAWA, Mr. Macaroni speaks on various topics including politics, the kind of content he creates, and his relationship status. He also explains why he does not like to create skits around rape and children, saying: “There are very sensitive issues… there are boundaries and limits that you cannot process”.

How does it feel to be one of the most famous skit makers out of Africa?

Mr. Macaroni: It is humbling. It is a great feeling. Knowing that millions of people watch your content every day and they resonate with what you do. It is a humbling feeling. It just takes me back to when I started my career, to all of the days when I was struggling to get into this or that role. One day, I just picked up content creation and by God’s grace, we are where we are. So, every time I just remember, I feel nothing but utmost humility and gratitude to God. When I remember those days, it keeps me in the mood all the time.

At what point did you decide you want to do online content creation? 

Mr. Macaroni: I never saw myself as a comedian, so to say. It is why I really do not get angry when people say they do not find me funny. So I am also humbled again by the millions that find me funny. So, because in school where I studied theatre arts, everyone that saw me knew me for serious drama. I love drama a lot. Yes, we would do comedy when I had to. But people knew that when you want to see acting, serious acting Debo will be there.

In virtually all the places I performed, I was the lead character. Will be the Oba today, soldier man tomorrow. Different things. Then they did not really have comedy in them. But then, I knew I was going to pick up content creation. So I will not call it a comedy because when I was doing it, I was not convinced it was comedy. I just wanted to do something for myself. But yes, you are right. I knew that people wanted to laugh. Those that were making people laugh online were making headway. People were following them, enjoying them, because they were making them laugh.

Also because of the space that we are in, especially digital media, people just want to relieve their stress. You are at work and stressed, you just want to check your phone and scroll and laugh. Then I am like, I have been adamant that I just want to do serious films and all of that. But yes, that will always come, so why not just try this, since you are still waiting for the big break in Nollywood as a professional actor? That was when I realised that let me try this. I started it and to God be the glory.

You were relatively known until the EndSARS protest against police brutality in October 2020. Is it safe to attribute your fame to the role you played during the protest that year?

Mr. Macaroni: Well, EndSARS came with blessings and curses. Yes. As you rightly said, I was already doing well at the time when the protest started. I had fame then. But why I said it came with blessings and curses is that there were also a lot of people who did not like that I was doing that. From government officials to the supporters of the government. They were just like, ‘You that we like’. Politicians also love your comedy’. That is the best way I can answer it. Some people even come to me and say ‘Oh I do not watch your content. But your personality, what you stand for I love it. Weldone’. While some other people will insult me online.

You and some protesters were arrested, beaten, and detained months after the Lekki tollgate incident. You also said the police officers told you that you would have been killed if the demonstration had taken place at night…what was the experience like? 

Mr. Macaroni: Without mincing words, what I said at the time, and I still repeat it. That is what they told us. The police officers at that station. Those who were responsible for brutalising and dehumanising me, others and we were told repeatedly that if it was at night or if I was not there and people were not asking for me as a public figure, they did not just say they were going to harm us, they said they would have killed us. It just shows how these people perceive us, how much hatred, and bitterness they live with. They just feel these youths are disturbing us. Some of them are like ‘Mr Macaroni you do not want us to make it? You also do not want us to enjoy life?’ So the corruption has eaten deep. They see it as a means of livelihood.

Yeah. It is their work and of course, they should be well compensated for what they do. The service is a great one. As a matter of fact, I think they do not even get enough pay for what they do. But you do not take that out on the citizens. The citizens are those you have sworn an oath to serve and protect. So, at the end of the day, you will not say because you are being underpaid you will now be killing, harassing, and assaulting those citizens. I just make them understand that it is not just a fight for us, it is a fight for themselves, for everyone. If things are better, it will be good for every one of us.

Did the incident contribute anything to you? Did it also shape the person you have turned out to become?

Mr. Macaroni: Absolutely, it made me stronger. So I think, to them they thought that was going to demoralise me or take me away from doing what I do. But as a matter of fact, it made me angrier. What they did to me, it just annoyed me a lot. And I am looking like if you guys are not seeing the picture that this is not a fight against you, it is a fight for you. We do not hate you. We hate that you do the wrong things.

We all have a role to play in this. The government, the people, everyone. So it is not just the police, we the citizens do have where we mess up. Everyone has to understand and accept what they did wrong and correct it. So let us do more, let us shake you up so that the system can be better.

So yeah, it did shape me. It gave me a lot of strength. Before I used to be quite scared too. Yeah of course I am human. I get scared sometimes. Courage is understanding that you could be harmed but going ahead to do what is right.

Your ‘Daddy Wa’ skits are always tailored towards well-endowed ladies. Is it safe to say that is who you are really? As in you are attracted to well-endowed ladies?

Mr. Macaroni: It is funny because that was never intentional. When I started creating content, I noticed when I did ‘Daddy Wa’, the content was with a lady and this and that. ‘Daddy Wa’ content is a satire. Simply portraying the recklessness of a married man that has refused to stay committed to his marriage or his relationship. And he is going around looking for other women but never succeeds. And that is very intentional because we want to continue to preach the right message to the people.

So when we started featuring one or two ladies and everything. So, the audience went to say ‘this man it is like he likes freaky that looks like this or that’. It was actually the audience who made us realise that this particular character has a spec.

You know some people would like their women slim, some will like them fair, some dark. But what we also need to do is content that is not ‘Daddy Wa’ related. We find a way to ensure that it is also balanced because those that are not endowed will not come and say ‘because I am not…’ And also because we do want to put unnecessary pressure on the women.

How do you manage your female admirers and those who want to get “naughty” with you because of your skits? Can you also share some experiences, if any?

Mr. Macaroni: You know, I think that will always come. Even if you are not famous. I want to believe that you will have admirers who will say ‘Wow you look this, you look that’. So, we cannot take away that. At the same time also, understand that, personally, I like to respect people. I believe everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. So I do not like to offend people. Meanwhile, that does not translate to carelessness on my part. ‘Daddy Wa’ is a character. Debo is an actor. Debo is the actor who plays the character ‘Daddy Wa’. So they are different people. Though while I am performing, they have to merge for the sake of performance, because the actor and the character must become one for the purpose of drama. Regardless, when Debo is in his full person, it takes away from the character. So I just tried to live my life as decently as possible. I am not a saint and I do not have one or two things out there, but everything must be done with caution. We just try to do things with caution. That is all.

How best should sexualisation and objectification of women be addressed to avert scenarios where skit makers are called out over jokes which a segment of the public tag as “inappropriate and offensive”? 

Mr. Macaroni: It is what I have always said that everything must be done with caution. So while I for one totally embrace a lot of people coming into this space. Because I also came in. People were already here. More people are also going to come. But what I just always want to admonish people is to be careful. No one is perfect. Even I have had one or two content that people were like ‘Ah, Mr. Macaroni this is wrong’. I re-watch again. I look and am like okay it is true. When I was creating it, I did not think of it this way.

Because when people now bring it to your attention, you have to also take caution to avoid it from happening again. I think everyone just needs to tread with caution. There are very sensitive issues that I do not like to create content around, rape, children, using children as objects.  There are boundaries, and limits, that you cannot process.

There was a time two people were talking, saying ‘Mr Macaroni, women in his this thing, in his that’. I always try my possible best to bring to their attention that what you see is totally different. What we are doing is preaching to society. And we do that with a lot of moderation. You will never find the character ‘Daddy Wa’ touching women in context. Just doing things. Sometimes for the sake of drama, we need to explain one or two things, but it is done in moderation.

That is my admonition. Everyone should just take caution and be careful. As artistes, we still have a moral obligation to ensure that we use our content to preach decency. Not only to entertain but to inform and educate our society.

Do you also have anything to say about the worrisome sex-for-role trend?

Mr. Macaroni: It is a societal issue. It is not only the entertainment industry. It is everywhere. And I have strongly condemned it before and I still condemn it again. What I always say when I have this conversation is if you say sex for roles, how many people do you want to sleep with before you get where you are going?

Again, I will not only hold the men accountable. Women themselves too have to be held accountable. You have to be able to say no. Some would accept while others would do it and say ‘that is the only way’. That is not the only way. We need to talk to men who have made this a norm, a condition. The talent is enough. When you see that this person can do it. Just let the person do it.

Apart from sex for roles, some do money for roles, where you will have to pay a certain amount before you are cast. Meanwhile, you as a producer, are the one that is supposed to pay. But you find some people who would say you have to pay me before I put you in my project. Why I say it is a societal issue is, it happens everywhere too. Every parastatal, every industry. All of us need to speak against it. And we all need to do better. It is totally condemnable and I did content around that.

You recently said you have been single for 10 years. Are you in a relationship now, single and searching, or single and happy?

Mr. Macaroni: I am still single, but I am not searching. I am not ready for anything relationship or beyond a relationship for now. That is not where my head is now. I do not know what the future holds but right now I am not giving it any thought.

With the series of policies implemented so far, do you think the current administration can provide solutions to the myriad of issues bedeviling Nigeria?

Mr. Macaroni: I do not know. The prayer of every Nigerian should be that Nigeria should get better. Whether it is this administration that can do it, I do not know. I just pray that Nigeria can get better. Nobody is perfect. At the end of the day, we just all feel this person can do it better.

Last year, you said you will never support APC or PDP. You endorsed Labour Party’s presidential candidate, what is your take on the outcome of the presidential election? Was it free and fair?

Mr. Macaroni: Absolutely not. It was not, especially for the rigging, it is something that is in court. So well we know the way the judicial system is in Nigeria but we will wait for the court to give the verdict. But why I say it was not fair was because of the voters’ intimidation, suppression. What happened during this last election was totally unnecessary? Totally ridiculous. How the ethnic tension was stoked, the bigotry. It was just painful to see. At the end of the day, I keep saying we all want to have a better Nigeria, why do you need to say, ‘Oh, you must not go out to vote’? So how is that going to be free and fair?

In fact, at my polling unit, there was a time some people came and they wanted to disrupt it, but we stood more. So we have witnessed something like that, how are we going to call it free and fair? We will not. Because these things happened.

We need to get to a point where we are able to hold free and fair elections. As a Nigerian, you have to respect that this is the wish of the majority of the people. And we will do our best to accept it and support the administration. But given the circumstances and personal experiences, I was threatened. I cannot count how many times I said this is the person I will be voting for. I never for once insulted or attack any presidential candidate.

I have strong reasons for not supporting APC or PDP. Even before the election. Before any candidate came out, I already said for me I will not cast my vote for anybody in PDP or APC. I do not hate the politicians there. I just felt why must it be between PDP and APC all the time. Another party can emerge. If it was APC and PDP and they have been doing well, I will not have any problem with it, but it has been from frying pan to fire. And that was my reservation.

I felt if these parties that are seen as the big ones are just there and continuing to be lackadaisical about governance because they know that it will be either one of them to be there, then why can we not have something else? I said that since EndSARS and I stood by it. I said I was going to vote for Peter Obi and I did vote for him.

I only came out to vote as a citizen for Peter Obi. I do not campaign for politicians or political parties or something. If Peter Obi was in the PDP, I would not vote for him. I just said that PDP and APC are out of it for me. We still also have a lot of younger candidates. There is Sowore, different people. Of course, there are reservations too.

Would you consider running for a political office someday?

Mr. Macaroni: It is a tough one because I have always loved to serve. I still love to serve. I believe that a life worth living is a life lived for others. But the Nigerian political space is so toxic. I do not think it is something I want to do. I do not know what the future holds but if you ask me I do not think it is something I want to do. All the times that I have thought about it. I am like no. I think there is a curse around that space that just corrupts good men. Men of valour. That we have all respected going into that space has become something totally different. Totally unrecognisable. And we are looking like, is this the same person that we have all seen?

How do you handle criticism? 

Mr. Macaroni: So because I have been able to divide criticism. What it means – constructive and there is hateful criticism. I love constructive criticism. When people say ‘Mr. Macaroni well done, but this thing that you said here, it has a way that it will make people feel somehow?’ You break it down. You make me see reason. That is different from ‘Oh Mr. Macaroni, you and all this your useless content. You know that your head is not correct’ There is a difference. If you yourself want growth that is how you should behave. Nobody is perfect. You cannot know it all. You will hit some, you will miss some. When you come up with insults, vile statements, I have a problem with it. There is a way some of them just want these people to feel less.

Especially political Twitter. When I became so vocal, and everything now has been, especially those that support the government, I just feel for some reason they say, ‘Oh, I hate this. I hate that’. I don’t hate anybody. If you want to talk about the president of Nigeria right now. I do not hate him. He is my president. We all want a better Nigeria. When I have to talk, I will talk.

So it is not the function of the personality, it is a function of what the people do. The people that are in positions of authority, and even ourselves. So most times too, I do not just talk about the government, I talk about things that happen. I talk about other parastatals to correct things that I feel are wrong.

There was a particular content I did, talking about how even citizens abuse police officers. The ones in uniform are the ones that will open doors for you, and wash cars. That is not the work of the police.  And I created the content to address that. I like to always balance things out. But some people just want to insult you. So what I have come to realise is, sometimes it is better to just ignore. But when you now put out defamatory things about my person or you try to bring disrepute to my name, then I have to take steps.

Do you go into critics’ DMs to reply to them? 

Mr. Macaroni: Oh, yes. There was one guy who said some really nasty stuff. He insulted my parents, and me, when you start insulting my parents, I can be very emotional because of my history. I went to four different universities. All my years in school, my parents never for once insulted me. I am not talking about maybe physically harming me or insulting me. My father is a journalist, so what he does is, he writes. But me, I speak up. Everything I do or I have done, he has also done. And he knows that, but he would rather write it. He is not coming out, say, ‘Oh, this is wrong’. That is what he tells me ‘I know I cannot tell you not to do what you do, because I am sure you must have gotten that from somewhere. But be careful’.

So I went into the guy’s DM. And I munched it and asked him where did this happen and he said ‘Oh, Mr. Macaroni you messaged me I am so sorry. I am just so frustrated. I really like you. When these government people attack you, we also join. Sometimes they send us recharge cards’. Or if they beg them for money they give them. Most of them do it because they are just following those guys.

All of them, you see how they did not mean it. And I can relate. Because when I was also jobless, I had done something like that. I used to be a Twitter user, 2010/2011. Fresh out of secondary school. I was in Leas citt Lead City at the time. I did not have any job. I was just always on Twitter, just abusing celebrities.

Do you have any regrets? 

Mr. Macaroni: I am someone that sees life from the angle of lessons, rather than regrets. Anything that happens to me, I pick up lessons and I say this is what I have learnt. Perhaps the only thing I can call regret is that I did not start content creation as at the time I wanted to. When the guys that laid the foundation were doing it, we were also in school. I was watching them. These were stuff that I was already doing with my friend, but I have never just picked up a phone and recorded myself because I just felt it was a silly thing to do.  If I had known that it is still what I was going to do later, I would have started it then.

Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years? 

Mr. Macaroni: Wow that is huge. I will be 40 years old by then. Hopefully, by God’s grace, a greater place than I am currently at. Not just for me. But in 10 years I want to look back and see how many people I have been able to build; people that have now become household names via Mr. Macaroni Entertainment. There are a lot of talents that just want to be groomed, to be given that opportunity. And we have started. A lot of people that are working for Mr. Macaroni Entertainment are also doing well for themselves. We just want to do more. For me, like I said earlier, a life worth living is a life lived for others. It could never be a function of what I have or how many properties I have been able to acquire but how many lives I have been able to build. To be a house that has built so many houses.

And of course growth, career-wise – as an actor. I am very intentional about that now. That is why a lot of Nollywood projects that I have been doing. I try not to take too many comic roles. I do not really do comedy for cinema projects. Because if you want to see comedy, go to my YouTube channel. My love has always been drama – melodrama. So that people do not only see Mr. Macaroni as a comedian but when they say Debo Adedayo, an actor comes to mind. A versatile one that can take up as many roles as may be required.  So yeah, all-round growth. By God’s grace, everyone will see.