You have to applaud Funke Akindele

What was supposed to be just a house party with friends and family, spiralled into a nightmare for Funke Akindele and her husband JJC Skillz. The couple faced intense social media backlash, got arrested and charged to court where they were fined and sentenced.

Funke Akindele and her husband JJC Skillz were arraigned before a magistrate court on Monday [Lawanson] Pulse Nigeria

It was a whirlwind of events that hugely tainted the image of an icon that had enjoyed a clean bill of media coverage. Did she deserve everything that came with flouting government guidelines of social distancing by throwing a house party with more than 20 persons in attendance? The court believed so, this writer did, but a deluge of other high profile offenders who have faced no such actions have drawn more sympathisers for the actress and filmmaker.

Akindele though is moving on, with class, courage and by being accountable for her mistake. She put out a video on her social media pages with a PSA for coronavirus, encouraging everyone to stay at home and to follow the guidelines set by the state and federal government.

“These past few weeks have been a learning curve but we must keep moving forward,” she says in the video.

It was an important message from someone of influence like Akindele and one which will even reverberate more with her fan base at this critical time. It showed her thoughtfulness, unselfishness and her ability to be accountable for her mistake.

We should all move on from this one Akindele misstep. She has only had one public misstep since she burst into the scene as a fresh-face schoolgirl who played Bisi in the sitcom ‘I Need to Know’ and this should not in any way define her.

She has given us so much and nothing should be taken away from her just because of that house party. Not her clean-cut image, not her endorsement, nothing at all.

It was an honest mistake, one which millions of Nigerians are still making even at this very moment. But it’s one that comes out of sloppiness, not callousness.

She hinted this in the video; “A lot of us are so used to ourselves or trust a group of friends that we forget to practice social distancing but trust me, it is very important this period,” she says in the video.

It’s a hard task being a celebrity. Akindele can attest to that, especially after the storm she just passed through. Your image is often left at the mercy of public opinion and all it takes sometimes is just one mistake.

But instead of being consumed by her mistake, Akindele has learned from them and is encouraging everyone to do the same.

You have to applaud her.

Pulse Editor's Opinion is the opinion of an editor of Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the organization Pulse.