Why I fought businesswoman in public — Nollywood star Mercy Aigbe

Popular actress Mercy Aigbe has narrated ‘her side of the story’ on the public brawl with businesswoman, Lara Olukotun aka Larrit.

On Monday, videos showed the duo with several other guests including some celebrities at an outdoor event.

Things got heated after Mercy Aigbe retaliated verbally to Larrit’s insults, provoking the latter to throw a bottle at her which fortunately didn’t hit her.

The public ‘show of shame’ caused a stir on social media with many faulting the actress for making the news mostly for the wrong reasons.

Others pointed fingers at the businesswoman for striking in such a ‘terrible’ manner.

Feeling the need to explain to her teeming fans was transpired at the event, the mother of two took to her insta stories to share details of the incident.

Aigbe titled her narration: “In reference to the video online: My side of the story. PART 1.”

She began: “I have been bullied online several times by Larrit (Lara). She calls me unprintable names unprovoked, yesterday, she took it a step further by physically assaulting me.

“I was at a friend’s store opening (@rhemmygold) to celebrate with her. Larrit was one of the guests.

“This woman, for reasons best known to her, slanders me online at every opportunity she gets. She has done many live videos and posts to this effect. I tried to reach out to her to understand what the issues were, but she chose to ignore me.

“Lara and I are acquaintances. I have patronised her business and she also has done likewise. So I was surprised and confused how she suddenly became an enemy.

“I sent messages to her on WhatsApp, I called few people close to her to understand why she would decide to become an antagonist, all efforts proved abortive.”

My side of the story Part 2, Mercy Aigbe continued: “At the party yesterday, she started with the same energy, throwing words at me, calling me names and being disrespectful.

“Initially, I kept calm and didn’t respond to her. People around her appealed to her to stop yet Lara wouldn’t stop and so I decided to stand up for myself and I retaliated with the same energy.

“It became heated and everyone around tried to broker peace but she still wouldn’t stop. At some point, she tried to throw a bottle at me but it hit a lady sitting in front of her and there was pandemonium.”

“I stepped out to leave in the middle of the brouhaha but my friend pleaded with me to stay including the celebrant. I went back in and she started attacking me verbally again. Eventually, she was taken out of the party, and she left.

“She went overboard with her hate yesterday. The bottle could have harmed someone and it would become a criminal case. This was an unnecessary attack. However, I would like to apologise to fans and family who felt I should have handled the whole situation differently. I’m sorry.”

Expressing the desire to lay the incident to rest while appreciating all who showed concerned by reaching out to her, the film star added: “Moving forward, I am a peace loving person and would really like to put this whole episode behind me.

“Thank you to everyone who reached out to me. I am fine, the bottle didn’t touch me at all as I was far from her. Sadly, it touched someone else but I was told she wasn’t injured and she is also fine. Thank you once again, y’all made me feel so loved.” (The Nation)