Actress and movie producer, Omoni Oboli has responded to allegations that her recently released movie, ‘A Different Type of Love’, copied another film on YouTube.
Shortly after the actress recently released ‘A Different Type of Love,’ viewers and critics began drawing attention to its striking similarities with another YouTube film, ‘Hope Given,’ released in 2023.
A pinned comment from SusanJimahTV on Omoni’s Instagram post alleged that the script had been previously sold to another YouTube channel under a different title.
The pinned comment reads, “Gooday, Ma’am @omonioboli, The script (A Different Type of Love) was sold to @Susanjimah in 2022 by @jayne_Nwanchukwu. It aired on Susan Jimah TV for over a year with the HOPE GIVEN title. It has also come to our notice that the same script has been given to another YouTube Channel again with a different title who just uploaded theirs yesterday. Jayne Nwachukwu hasn’t been reachable since yesterday. We applaud you for standing in the line of integrity.”
In response to the comment, actress Omoni said, “Thank You.”
In response to the controversy, Omoni addressed the situation through an Instagram post, explaining her decision to take the movie down while investigations are ongoing.
The 46-year-old actress clarified that the screenplay for the film was commissioned by a scriptwriter and assured her audience that she was working with her legal team to resolve the issue.
She wrote:
“Dear besties, we’ve received feedback that [the movie] bears a striking resemblance to another film on YouTube. As a channel committed to originality, we’ve decided to take down the movie while the situation is investigated.”
Also, Susan Jimah TV, the alleged original buyer of the script, further addressed the situation by reiterating its stance on copyright infringement regarding the movie Hope Given and alleged that two other producers used the same script and characters in 2024 without proper rights.
The statement read:
‘‘It has been brought to our notice that one of our Movies Hope Given, written by one Jayne Nwachukwu in 2022, which has long been aired on Susan Jimah TV more than a year ago, was given to two other producers to produce (same scripts, characters, and same dialogues from start to finish) by the same writer in 2022.
‘‘We applaud Omoni Oboli TV for standing in the line of integrity by taking down the film and taking it up with the said Writer. We’re also using this medium to tell @NollyconnectTv to do the same, as this is copyright infringement. That being said. Please go to Susan Jimah TV to watch the Original Story – HOPE GIVEN, and see for yourself.”
Meanwhile, the alleged scriptwriter, Jayne Nwachukwu, has not responded to the allegations.
Storyteller Creative Agency (a script-writing platform) has also disassociated itself from Ms Nwachukwu, a 2022 alumni of the agency. The agency alleged that they only assisted the scriptwriter (Ms Nwachukwu) in selling her scripts to Susan Jimah TV out of “desperation” and were unaware of her “fraudulent intentions.”
By Ezinne Okorie.
