Veteran Nollywood actor, Yemi Solade, has opened up on his controversial stance against pastors who once urged him to avoid working on Sundays.
The 64-year-old screen legend revealed this during his recent appearance on The Honest Bunch podcast, where he discussed his struggles balancing faith, career, and livelihood.
According to Solade, several church leaders had told him to reject movie roles that fell on Sundays, advice he strongly disagreed with.
“I’ve been told in the church that I should tell producers not to call me for work on Sundays. And I cursed those pastors,” he boldly declared.
He argued that such demands were unrealistic, especially in Nollywood where productions are often scheduled on weekends.
“It is from that thing that you said I shouldn’t do on Sunday that I put my hand in my pocket and I dropped here,” he explained, noting that his livelihood depended on his work.
The actor also criticized the idea that church attendance defines success in life.
“The notion that if you don’t attend church once life must die, probably I’ve not seen anything change. Rather, I have peace, I do well,” he added.
Solade further lamented the constant obligations that came with church membership, describing them as distractions from his career.
“Because every day of my life, when I was going to church, I got messages or sort of disturbances. If you are not invited to one committee, then when will I have time to work?”
Challenging the religious insistence on Sunday worship, the actor insisted that the Bible does not forbid working on that day.
“There’s no way in the Bible that Sunday in the Greco-Roman calendar… you’re telling me not to leave my house and go to where my chop is. You are here to chop on Sunday. Who are you telling me that I should tell? You want to ruin my career?”
To buttress his point, he narrated an incident involving a technician he had paid for a job, only for the man to later claim he couldn’t show up because he was in church.
“I gave him money… Later, he told me he was in church. Do you know that you took my money to that church? You gave part of it; that blessing is mine now. It’s my money you went to drop there. … You went to attend another man’s business,” Solade said.
With a career spanning decades, Yemi Solade has featured in several Nollywood classics including Voiceless Scream, Widow, The Other Woman, and Elevator Baby. Born in Ogun State, the actor is married to fellow actress Hannah Marsh, his second wife, and the union has produced children.
