Fans Are Not Pleased With Lynn Whitfield's Igbo Accent On 'The Resident'

At the risk of sounding repetitive, Hollywood has a massive African accent problem. From Will Smith in Concussion to everyone in Black Panther, Hollywood actors tend to stick to one generic African accent regardless of where in the continent the character they’re portraying is from.

It’s everywhere, but most recently in the last episode of Fox’s medical show, The Resident. The Resident has a Nigerian doctor, Dr. Mina Okafor (pronounced Horrkefer by her colleagues and patients at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital), who is whip-smart, quick and very straight to the point.

(Photo: FOX/The Resident)

Black Panther‘s Shaunette Renée Wilson, the talented Guyanese-born American actress playing Dr. Okafor, thankfully dropped her own lazy Igbo accent a few episodes into the show — allowing us to enjoy her performance without cringing at every turn.

But The Resident found a new way to torture us. The most recent episode of the show welcomed Mina’s mother, Dr. Okeke (played by Emmy winner, Lynn Whitfield), who is saddled with what is quite possibly the worst Nigerian accent we’ve ever heard.

Mina’s mother made a memorable entrance on the latest episode of #TheResident — stream it now: https://t.co/y9rWxW1CMf pic.twitter.com/bC6oBi0Xua

— The Resident (@ResidentFOX) February 20, 2019

Interesting storyline notwithstanding, it comes off as lazy, because they could have actually hired a Nigerian actress or a Nigerian consultant since they seem so interested in portraying our people and culture. Nigerians, never ones to play around, let them know as much.

Here are some of the reactions:

What nonsense accent is that? That is not the IGBO accent. And correction too. It’s IGBO, not Ibo.

Once again.. that’s not even a Nigerian accent to start with. IGBOs have an accent, use it.

— AGBAI (@Emmanuel_Agbai_) February 21, 2019

Gombe state is in the northern part of Nigeria, NOT the eastern part. @ResidentFOX has so many fans here in Nigeria. The least we expect is that basic facts like should be checked, errors like that could easily be avoided.

— powerpuffgirl (@_eh_neh) February 20, 2019

I won’t have this
I won’t have this Nigerian accent
Never ever nooooo
She’s not a South African she’s an Igbo Nigerian
Do your research !

— julyjem (@bestjemever) February 20, 2019

Pls next time, just get a Nigerian actor/actress to play a Nigerian role. There are many who would jump at the chance and kill it. That accent was painful to listen to!

— Reyoncé (@bee_andthebeat) February 20, 2019