Award winning actor and director, Van Vicker, has described as “utter nonsense” reports claiming he has been infected with the Ebola virus disease.
He denied being diagnosed with the deadly disease and expressed his displeasure about the insensitivity displayed by some entertainment websites in the country.
“I don’t know why people choose to be so mischievous in such a manner and then my question is who controls these websites that they can just get online and just write anything and get away with it?” he asked.
[contextly_sidebar id=”g2huIFCgpBSMBwQMl1AO1a0TpjQPeQzQ”]Media reports on Tuesday said that Vicker was infected in Liberia where he was shooting the second part of his movie, ‘Bendu Sudan.’
The media publication also reported that since his diagnosis, he had been quarantined to prevent his family from getting infected as well.
But speaking on Citi FM’s Traffic Avenue on Tuesday, Van Vicker, who has a Liberian lineage, debunked the reports saying, “I am definitely not diagnosed with Ebola.”
According to him, in August this year, he was scheduled to shoot the movie in Liberia but the gravity of the spread of the Ebola disease forced him to abandon the planned trip.
He expressed grave concern about the impact such false publications could have on his children.
“I am worried about my kids right now because the same thing happened when they put up a story on Facebook that I was dead, I had an accident and I was possibly going to die,” he said.
He recalled that during the said publication, he was out of the country but when his children went to school, “people were telling them all sorts of stories and this time too I am afraid they are going to go to school…and their friends will probably be keeping their distance from my kids because there is the possibility that they are also infected.”
Vicker said it was unfair because such publications only lead to traumatizing his kids “and this is so unfair.”
He expressed his condolences to any individual who has lost a family member or close relation to the Ebola disease especially citizens of Liberia.
“They shouldn’t think that I’m not doing anything because I know a few people I have heard say Van is half Liberian and he is not doing anything back in Liberia…”
He disclosed working with the UN response team who are setting up an Ebola center in Accra to help the affected countries fight the disease.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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