Israel Laryea steps in to calm online storm between wife and TV presenter Lily Mohammed

Veteran broadcaster Israel Laryea has broken his silence on the heated social media exchange involving his wife, Louisa Laryea, and GHOne TV host Lily Mohammed, offering clarification on his wife’s comments and extending an apology to ease tensions.

The online spat emerged in late January after popular American streamer IShowSpeed visited Ghana as part of a continent-wide cultural tour.

Public debate intensified when Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa later revealed that a Ghanaian passport had been approved for the internet personality — a move that drew mixed reactions across social media.

While discussing the issue on GHOne TV’s morning show, Lily Mohammed questioned both the decision to grant the passport and the overall relevance of the influencer’s visit. Her remarks sparked widespread online conversations, drawing responses from public figures, including Louisa Laryea.

In a post addressing what she perceived as shallow commentary, Louisa criticised the state of modern journalism, stressing the need for research, factual analysis and sound reasoning rather than surface-level presentation.

Her comments were swiftly met with a sharp rebuttal from Lily Mohammed, who dismissed Louisa’s critique as lacking substance and implied that her confidence was tied to her husband’s prominence in the media space.

As the exchange gained momentum online, Louisa later clarified that her post was not a personal attack on Lily. Despite the clarification, the situation continued to snowball, with trolls eventually dragging Israel Laryea himself into the controversy.

In a Facebook statement on Monday, February 2, 2026, Israel Laryea said he had spoken privately with his wife about the incident and the reactions it triggered.

He rejected claims that Louisa had body-shamed the TV presenter, explaining that she neither referenced cosmetic surgery nor made comments about skin tone, and does not personally know Lily Mohammed.

He further offered an apology to Lily on behalf of his wife if the remarks were interpreted as offensive, emphasising that no harm was intended.

Israel Laryea also criticised the personal attacks that followed the online dispute, particularly those targeting his marriage and his wife’s appearance, describing them as unfair and unnecessary.

The veteran broadcaster urged for healthier public discourse, noting that disagreements should not devolve into personal insults or online harassment.

Below is Israel Laryea’s full X statement addressing the dispute between his wife and Lily Mohammed.

Louisa and I have had conversations about her post that went viral and caused a troll storm and I got her to appreciate a few things - one of them being that there’s one thing about what you say and there’s another about how people interpret it. While you may feel free to say what you wish, you cannot necessarily control how people understand it. There’s also how people would choose to spin it to suit their own narrative. She however explains, that she never meant to body shame anyone. Unfortunately, we can all agree that you can’t control how people choose to interpret a post. Louisa further clarifies, that she never sought to infer that Lily Mohammed had bleached or done BBL because she does not know her. If Lily felt offended, sorry, but that was definitely not the intention. I’ve also read posts and comments about my marriage. To those people, I’d say focus on your marriage if you have one or when you enter one. There are also those who say Louisa is ugly. Really? This woman right here at 52 years after giving birth to three children, is ugly? Create a human let’s see how you fare. Finally to the “friends” who joined the troll or fueled it, what real friends will do would be to reach out privately to obtain some context or seek to correct if necessary. I’ve never trolled or joined trolling of a friend and would never do that. But hey, we’re all brought up differently, which is why we will always have differences in opinions. Stay well. …and to you, Louisa, I love you always.\