Hollywood film star couple receive Guinean citizenship through DNA testing

Hollywood stars Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good obtained Guinean citizenship on Friday during a ceremony presided over by close associates of Guinean President General Mamadi Doumbouya.

Both actors, who are married, traced their Guinean origins through DNA testing and were granted diplomatic passports from senior government officials.

"From now on, you will represent our country and its red, gold, and green flag all over the world," Djiba Diakité, chief of staff to the president of Guinea, said as he gave them their new passports.

The couple married last year following a turbulent period in Majors' life which negatively impacted his career.

He had won critical accolades for his work in "Da 5 Bloods" and "Lovecraft Country" and secured years of future Marvel stardom with his role as Kang the Conqueror.

But in 2024, he was sentenced in the United States to probation for the 2023 assault of his then girlfriend.

The actors landed in Conakry on Friday morning and were welcomed with much fanfare by officials and musicians.

"It’s good to be home," Good said in a speech thanking officials for their welcome.

Majors promised to help Guinea using his area of expertise.

“We are that much more emboldened to come here, to come back home and to help out any way we can. Really put us to work,” he said.

Guinea is not the first country to award citizenship to descendants of enslaved people as part of efforts to encourage them to reclaim their heritage and invest in the continent.

The Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, who organised their stay, said the pair will visit slave sites in the Boké region on a specially arranged tour before leaving the country.

It was in this part of maritime Guinea that all the slaves captured along the coast of Guinea were shipped to the United States to be deported to the sugar cane plantations in the Americas.