After several days and countless hours of deliberation on what started as a mere rumour, it has been made official that beautiful actress, Yvonne Nelson’s one-year cut away, has been confirmed by the major think tanks of the movie industry. 

A body known as the Film Regulatory Council of Ghana (FRCG), set up to monitor and regulate the release of movies in Ghana and put the day-to-day activities of cast, crew members, and everybody involved in the movie industry in check, has officially announced that the Dansoman-based actress has not been “banned” but they, in alliance with other affiliate bodies in Nigeria, have stopped starring her in any movie for one year, as reported earlier by peacefmonline.com.

The FRCG, made up of four strong associations with members spread nationwide: i.e. Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG), Bulk Film Sellers Association of Ghana, Film Distributors Association of Ghana and Film/Video Retailers Association of Ghana, met at Akosombo on Wednesday November 24, 2010 to discuss a number of serious issues bedeviling the movie industry and where Yvonne’s issue of alleged disrespectful behvaviour was also discussed in detail. 

A unilateral decision was taken to cut her off the silver screen for the next 12 months based on a complaint made to FIPAG by Abdul Salam Mumuni, accusing her of disrespect and misconduct. Even though the council has not called Yvonne to explain her side of the issue, a peacefmonline source at Akosombo revealed that the announcement was made at exactly 10:25pm, after the marathon meeting yesterday Thursday November 25, 2010.

Speaking exclusively to peacefmonline.com, a leader of the council Mr. William Akufo, a veteran Film producer known for producing one of the most popular films “Zinabu” in as far back as 1985 and President of Ghallywood, confirmed the information to peacefmonline that they, as a regulatory body, have stopped dealing with the actress and anything that has to do with her for a year for gross misconduct.

“We are not going to allow anybody whosoever to destroy what we started a long time ago. We need to bring some sanity into the industry. If you offend one producer you have offended all of us. You see, people are taking this thing for granted, but actors and actresses are role-models, so if they don’t project good behaviour to impact positively on the society, that is not good enough for the industry”, Mr. Akufo stated. 

According Mr. Akufo they involved the distributors, sellers and retailers because they are responsible for the release and sale of movies in Ghana, which means that any producer who decides to down-play the FRCG sanction on Yvonne to star her in their movies cannot release or sell the movies within the sanctioned period. 

Asked how they intend to make the decision official or how they are going to communicate it to Yvonne, Mr. Akufo said an official letter has already been written to be sent to Yvonne today, after which a press release will be sent to the various media houses for publication.

In an interview with Mr. Socrate Safo, Public Relations officer of FIPAG who is still in Akosombo with all the other industry players, he said “Yes it now official, but we as FIPAG are not saying we have banned her. We have rather put a sanction on her and has warned all our members and other associations to stop working with her for one year”. 

He added that the council has also cautioned Venus Films CEO, Abdul Salam Mumuni, from using Yvonne as an individual producer from starring the actress in any of his movies. Socrate explained that they cautioned Salam because Yvonne may decide to apologize to Salam and he might forgive her personally, but he will not be able use her in his movies until the sanction is over. If Salam fails to comply, he will be banned from producing movies for eighteen months. 

The council’s directive also states that no producer can use Yvonne Nelson’s image on poster, handbills, banners or any adverting material to advertise any movie for six months after the one year sanction. 

Meanwhile, credible information available to peacefmonline.com at the time of filling this report, indicates that the FRCG have called the organizers of the upcoming first edition of the Ghana Movie Awards (MAG), to take off Yvonne’s name from the awards. 

The source disclosed that FIPAG has threatened to pull out of the awards if the organizers refuse to take Yvonne’s name out. A close confidant hinted peacefmonline that the embattled actress Yvonne Nelson and her manager are currently on their way to Akosombo to meet the Film Regulatory Council of Ghana to state their case and possibly apologize for the sanction to be lifted. Yvonne is expected to release a press statement after her meeting with the FRCG today. 

The nominees party for the Ghana Movie Awards, comes off at 8pm today at the Golden Tulip Hotel, where the nominees will be announced, so don’t be surprised if “The Game” actress is not nominated for the awards.

Yvonne was allegedly banned for an alleged incident of gross misconduct and rudeness to the cast and crew on set during the filming of a new Venus Films movie “4Play Reloaded”, when she virtually attacked Abdul Salam, Roger Quartey and others verbally.

Her bone of contention was that Jackie Appiah had been given permission to absent herself and be a guest judge at the 2010 Miss Malaika Finals, even though she (Jackie) was supposed to shoot a particular scene with her (Yvonne) on that day. 

Yvonne therefore refused to partake in any further shooting for the movie after the said incident, in spite of the fact that she had been paid fully for the role. 

Keep reading as the story unfolds.