Nollywood actor Hanks Anuku has been declared mentally stable by his manager, Moses Allen, after a video of the actor in Abuja began trending online and raised fresh concern among fans.
Kristina Reports has it that in a video showing Anuku in Wuse 2, Abuja, wearing jeans, a black top and sneakers lying close to a roadside, speaking to himself while holding a disposable cup has raised concerns as the scene has quickly spread on social media, with many users questioning his state of mind
Allen reacted to the concerns, saying people were quick to assume the worst after seeing the clip.
He explained that Anuku is an actor who often behaves in expressive and creative ways, which can sometimes be misunderstood by the public.
“So I understand you guys might have seen a video and then care to ask. It’s better to ask than to start making presumptions like other people used to do every time. You see, Hanks is a character; he’s an actor. So most of what he does is in a different world of his own.
“He does those things, people mistake it for madness or craziness. No, an artist is actually never really normal, you understand. An artist, in the true sense of it, is actually never really normal because your presence is in a different realm, in a creative realm. You know, he does not operate in the world where we do operate. Where normal people operate. A world of, you know, rat race, where you come in the morning, you have to go and hustle for what to eat. He does not really bother and does not live in a normal world as we do.”
“He’s a serious man, he’s a responsible man with family, with children, and everything. So, whatever you guys see there (in the video) is just like someone trying to be himself. What is wrong with someone sitting down by the grass and then talking to himself and having a drink? What is wrong with that? He wasn’t naked. He wasn’t abusing anybody; he wasn’t calling people names and everything. He was trying to float. Maybe he was trying to rehearse or to imagine a scenario.
“He was imaginative in that video. I don’t see anything that he did that is wrong, or that the whole world is now saying, ‘Ah, this man is mad.’ Mad for where? Like I told you, if you want, I can coordinate a conference call, and you can now even record the conversation, and now see if he sounds like a mad person, or like an artist.
“I’ve been his manager for years. Kindly let the world know that the legend Hanks Chukwuemeka Anuku is sound and has, in fact, never been in a better mental state than now, please. He’s simply an artist, and I really wonder why the world expects artists to be like normal people.”