Nigerian actress and social media personality Abike Raheem, popularly known as Papaya Ex, has broken down in tears after claiming that her YouTube manager deleted her film, The Spotlight, from the platform.

The movie had reportedly attracted 2.7 million views and more than 10,000 comments before it was removed, leaving the filmmaker visibly distressed over what she described as the loss of months of work.

In an emotional video shared online, Papaya Ex said she was devastated by the development and blamed the person managing her YouTube channel for the deletion.
“All my hard work is gone. This guy has ruined me. My YouTube manager deleted my Spotlight movie with 2.7 million views and 10k comments,” she said.

She also revealed that she had fasted for 30 days while working on the project, making the loss particularly painful for her. “I fasted for 30 days for this project,” she added, while expressing uncertainty about what to do next.
Papaya Ex said she was already fasting for another project when she learnt that The Spotlight had been deleted. She also pointed viewers towards other videos and trailers that she claimed had been removed from her channel.

The incident has since generated reactions from fans, with some questioning how the movie could have been deleted after recording millions of views. Others urged the filmmaker to take greater control of her YouTube account instead of leaving such decisions entirely to a manager.

The Spotlight, released on August 14, features Papaya Ex alongside Michael Dappa and Ada Uli. The romance film follows Dayo, a struggling music artiste attempting to find his place in the Nigerian music industry.
The reported deletion also comes shortly after Papaya Ex raised concerns about the film being shown by television stations in Ghana without her authorisation. On August 16, she called out some Ghanaian TV stations over the alleged unauthorised broadcast of the movie.

Two days later, she addressed questions from fans about the availability of The Spotlight on YouTube.
Papaya Ex has increasingly moved beyond social media influencing into acting and filmmaking. She made her cinema debut in Eniola Ajao’s Owambe Thieves in 2025 and has continued to take on film projects.

As reactions to her emotional video continue to spread online, the circumstances surrounding the deletion of The Spotlight remain based on Papaya Ex’s account, with no public response from the YouTube manager cited in the reports so far.