Nigeria Says ‘District 9’ Is Not Welcome

Nigeria is joining the ranks of China, Iran and other countries displeased with Hollywood. “District 9,” the summer science-fiction blockbuster about an alien refugee camp in South Africa, is drawing protests from government officials in Nigeria over its portrayal of Nigerians, The Associated Press reported. Dora Akunyili, the country’s information minister, has asked movie houses in Abuja, the nation’s capital, to stop screening the film because it depicts Nigerians as gangsters and cannibals. “We have directed that they should stop public screening of the film,” Ms. Akunyili said. “We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light.” Ms. Akunyili has also appealed to Sony for an apology and requested that the studio edit out references to Nigeria as well as to a character whose name resembles that of the former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, and who in one scene tries to eat another character’s arm. The response followed a private screening of the film for government officials on Wednesday.