Racist moegoe hit hard
Major clients cut ties with businesses linked to k-word man Son’s school bans Adam Catzavelos after video went viral
Racism does not pay. In fact, it can hit you hard in the pocket.
That is a strong message that South Africans sent yesterday as they punished a racist businessman who bragged there was “not one k **** r in sight” during his visit to a Greek beach while on holiday.
Within hours of Adam Catzavelos’ videoed racist rant going viral, his family’s business was dumped by major clients that include top-end restaurants and his son’s school banned him from setting foot on its premises.
His idiotic remarks also led to the shutting down of Nike stores across the country as the sportswear company feared protests following social media revelations that Catzavelos’ wife worked for the company.
The unprecedented backlash against Catzavelos’ racism is thanks mainly to “black twitter”, which went into overdrive on Tuesday night, probing his background and business links.
In the video, taken at an unidentified beach in Greece, Catzavelos can be heard saying: “Let me give you a weather forecast here: Blue skies‚ beautiful day‚ amazing sea and not one k **** r in sight. F***ing heaven on earth.”
Black twitter responded to the offending comments by probing and exposing who Catzavelos was. Soon, high-profile individuals such as DJ Fresh, Robert Marawa and EFF leader Julius Malema were re-tweeting a message from @sbukasimo revealing that the racist’s wife was a merchandising director at Nike.
In a statement Nike said: “Nike opposes discrimination and has a long-standing commitment to diversity‚ inclusion and respect. We believe in the power of human potential in everyone – of every race‚ religion‚ nationality‚ gender and sexual orientation.”
Catzavelos’ racism has not only hit him and his businesses in the pocket but also led to St Johns’s College, in Johannesburg, barring him from his son’s school.
His offensive remarks also saw clients immediately sever ties with the Catzavelos family business, St George’s Fine Foods, which supplies sauces and meat marinating spices to high-end restaurants such as The Butcher Shop and Grill.
The owner of the Butcher Shop and Grill, Dani Pick, said his family had been in business with the Catzavelos family for more than 20 years. Pick said his restaurant has cut ties with St George’s Fine Foods and Catzavelos, with immediate effect, and had removed all of its products.
“I make a commitment to the South African public that all of St George’s Fine Foods products will no longer be served in our restaurant,” he said.
Other popular restaurants, Meat Company and The Baron Group, also cut ties with him. The Baron Group director, Gareth Spencer, condemned Catzavelos’ racist tirade. “We found his video completely unacceptable and have, with immediate effect, terminated our business with St George’s Fine Foods,” Spencer said.
The Meat Company South Africa’s head of operations, Paul Haggiyannes, said they had ceased all business with St George’s Fine Foods. “We are thoroughly appalled by Adam Catzavelos’ racist tirade and condemn this in the strongest of terms.
“The Meat Company does not tolerate any form of racism whatsoever within its organisation,” he said.
Catzavelos is also the owner of the Smokehouse and Grill restaurant located in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, which was closed after his tirade was picked up by the public.
Also, the EFF in Gauteng has opened a case of racism against him at the Bramley police station in Johannesburg.
In 2014 Catzavelos was profiled on talk radio 702 as part of the Business Accelerator Programme sponsored by Nedbank.
On Wednesday both entities released a statement condemning his racist behaviour.
EFF provincial chair Mandisa Mashego said Catzavelos’s behaviour was symbolic of white supremacy based on years of discrimination against black people and the plundering of Africa’s resources.
Mashego said Catzavelos should be
South Africa is quickly becoming an unwelcoming place for racists, and that is long overdue.
For too many years South Africans, especially black people who are often at the receiving end of racist actions and remarks, would watch helplessly as they were being insulted and disrespected.
There would be a voice of protest here and there without any serious consequences for the those perpetrating racism.
Soon the storm would die out and we would all go back to behaving like our country was a “rainbow nation” heaven that the archbishop emeritus, Desmond Tutu, used to speak of – even though we all knew that’s idealist.
A few months later another racist would have a public outburst, causing all of us to act surprised and condemn him or her – only to forget about it a few days later.
If we are lucky, a bigot would apologies for their remarks, assuring us that they were not usually racist, but “mispoke” after being frustrated by one thing or the other.
And on and on it would go. Well, not anymore.
SA is beginning to make racism very expensive for these bigots. And the most wonderful thing about this development is that it is the direct victims of racism who are leading the struggle.
The collective efforts of South Africans who exposed the racist rantings of one Adam Catzavelos should serve as a reminder that ending this scourge is in the hands of the people.
Without ordinary people taking this matter up and demanding action from individuals and businesses with links to Catzavelos, we would not have seen the kind of backlash against him that we have experienced over the past 24 hours.
For years, racial bigots have acted with impunity in this country because they believe that, despite having political power, the majority has no ability to take any meaningful action against them.
But the reaction to Catzavelos, which resulted in his family’s business losing major clients and him being banned from one of the country’s top private schools where his child attends, must serve as a warning to all other bigots that the nation will no longer tolerate their nonsense and bigotry.