Rita Odafe
Desmond Elliot, an actor-turned-politician, recently expressed his sorrow over the immense amount of hatred he has been receiving from youths since his comments during the End SARS protest in October 2020. Appearing on TVC’s morning show ‘Your View’, he spoke out about the hate he gets from the youth on a daily basis. His statement at the time called for a bill to be passed in the Lagos State House of Assembly to regulate and control speech on social media, which has caused a lot of backlash from the youth. They are particularly angry that he referred to them as ‘children’. Whenever something goes wrong and makes its way to social media, they often blame it on him with the phrase ‘Na Desmont Elliot cause am’.
During the interview, Desmond Elliot apologized to the youths and admitted that he was taken by emotions when he made his speech. He also said that the hatred he has received has been too much and urged everyone to spread love instead. He said, “I’m still apologising to those who must have misconstrued what I said. I said I was taken by emotions. But, in the end, it still didn’t take away from the facts; the hatred is too much, the polity, the hatred is too much. I’m in politics now for eight years and I still stand on the fact that love conquers all. I mean I’ve gone out in the streets and people still curse me. But I’m not afraid, I’m not ashamed because they don’t understand the stress that you go through.”
