Ayo Makun popularly comedian known as Ay bares his mind on the issue he has with Basket Mouth after 17 years, according to him in an interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.
Ay began the story from the point where Basketmouth gave him a life line in the industry when he started out in the comedy industry, and how a particular event sparked the rift.
“Now, Something funny happened. One of the gigs per say, I got his endorsement to go stand in. Usually what we get at that time is N30,000 and 30,000 at that time was everything to me. 30,000 would buy me my pack of indomie, recharge cards, fuel for my ‘I better pass my neighbor’ generator and then opportunity to pay just one or two people to join me to do one or two skits that I can just quickly put out.
“I got this job and the people weren’t too happy to see me around the venue because they were expecting a Basketmouth to come. Long story short, the guy was later happy after the performance. There was an exchange of contacts. Then I left.
“Two weeks running, I haven’t seen 30k.
Because I didn’t see the 30k, and I was starving in Iponri, I decided to ask for 30K and he said this person hasn’t remitted, this person hasn’t paid, you they’re not happy because of this and all of that.
“And then me I was like, ahahn… but this person na, shebi you tell me say you were impressed and happy? Give my oga hin money na, make my oga take settle me and all of that. Me, I don’t care if you give Basket 100k for the job but my 30k is my 30k.
“It was very funny to now hear from them knowing that this full payment has been made long before the event.
“I said ‘O-kay, is that the situation?’. So I forwarded this one’s message to this one and vice versa. So they now started fighting each other and all of that.
“I didn’t do that because I wanted to get at Basketmouth per say. I did that because I was hungry, I was hustling and needed food on the table at the time.”
AY also claimed that Basketmoutg invited his wife to his wedding but his name was missing on the guest list.
“I was looking at my wife, my wife dey look her husband and she was like okay, let’s be going home since you no qualify to enter.
“So quite a lot happened. So when you keep quiet and you don’t say anything; the only time I will now address it with that tweet, everybody came for me. Nobody knows what and what I have been going through.
The popular comedian also accused Basketmoutg who is his senior colleague of taking him out of shows whenever his name appeared because of the feud between them.
“It’s so bad that, sometimes, my name will be removed from an event: ‘If AY is in, I’m not in’.
Basket will be at an event, maybe AY is on the Bill, he won’t introduce me if he’s the MC. I will just go and pick my mic on the floor and go and do my thing. It was that bad.
“But I never gave up. Every opportunity – maybe the wife gives birth, I’d go with my own wife or maybe something is going on – I kept doing everything.
According to Ay he has made moves to be friends with Basket Mouth but each time his olive branch has been frustrated. He made a particular instance that rvrntsully made resign to fate. In his words he said,
“Long story short, one day Basket was in the club with a glass of drink so I walked up to my guy. I said: ‘Bright Okpocha. (He’s my senior colleague but my junior in real life), howfar my guy.’
“So we got talking. So I said to my friend, ‘You see God has blessed us. You have a house in Lekki, I have a house. You have a child, I have a child, God has blessed us. This thing that happened in 2006, guy drop am.’
“And my dear colleague looked at me eye ball to eye ball and said: ‘I’m a beast, I don’t forgive.’”
