Dancer Abati is the King’s Hype Man in the new episode of the Aiyetoro Town TV series, season 2

Abati Adeotan Abidemi, better known as Abatiade, shows up as the King’s Hype Man in a new episode of “Aiyetoro Town” season 2, Funke Akindele’s YouTube series.

“Aiyetoro Town” is a spin-off of the “Jenifa’s Diary” franchise. It first came out in 2019, made through a collaboration between FAAN (formerly SceneOne Productions) and YouTube, and centered on Jenifa’s hometown and the people living there. The series follows the village’s Baale, or traditional ruler, who spent time living in Edinburgh and comes home wanting to modernize Aiyetoro without losing what makes it what it is.

Season 2 picked up the story five years after the first season ended. Funke Akindele announced the premiere date herself, writing that the new run would bring “laughter, drama and of course, life lessons,” and thanking her cast and crew for their work on it. It began streaming on FAANtv’s YouTube channel on June 22, 2025, opening with an episode centered on the coronation of the town’s first king.

That coronation is where Abatiade’s character comes in. As the King’s Hype Man, he’s the one whipping up the palace crowd and keeping the energy in court scenes going, a familiar figure in how Nigerian royal courts tend to get portrayed on screen, somewhere between a court crier and a warm-up act.

The king himself is played by Deyemi Okanlawon, stepping into the role of Aiyetoro’s newly crowned ruler as the season’s central figure.

Off-screen, Abatiade started as a ballet dancer at age 9, and dance has remained the core of what he does since, even as he’s built out a broader career that includes acting, a fashion business, and social media work. He describes dance as something bigger than entertainment, saying it has the power to heal and connect people, and not just something done for fun.

He’s also been open about how dancers get overlooked in Nigeria’s entertainment industry. In his telling, dancers sit near the bottom of the pay scale compared to other kinds of performers, and recognition often depends more on the size of someone’s online following than on actual skill. He’s pointed to fellow dancer Poco Lee as an early influence, someone whose success from a similar background pushed him to aim higher himself.

The “Aiyetoro Town” role adds to a body of screen work Abatiade has kept up alongside his dancing, treating the two as running side by side rather than one being secondary to the other.