‘Have mercy on me’
Fired Idol’s SA judge begs M-Net
AXED Idols SA judge Gareth Cliff says it was inconsistent and unfair for broadcaster M-Net to dismiss him as a judge on the show as they had failed to take the same action against some of his colleagues.
The DJ and president of online radio station Cliff Central, who has been the subject of widespread public criticism for his involvement in a recent racist spat, believes that fellow judges Unathi Msengana and Somizi Mhlongo were also previously involved in questionable posts, but yet they managed to keep their jobs.
He now wants M-Net to bestow the same mercy on him and wants the broadcaster to reinstate him on the judging panel for this year’s Idols SA season before the auditions at the end of the month. And, as he believes the broadcaster made comments that tainted his image, Cliff also wants an “unconditional apology” from M-Net.
Cliff makes these assertions and demands in the urgent court papers he filed yesterday in the high court in Joburg against M-Net and production company Entertainment (Pty) Limited, after M-Net failed to meet his ultimatum to concede to his demands on Monday.
In a letter that The Star has seen, M-Net said that the deadline was unreasonable as the document was only delivered to them on Friday. They did, however, agree to remove his face off advertising material.
In the interdict, which The Star has seen, Cliff said that if he wasn’t reinstated on the judging panel, he wanted M-Net to pay him R25 million, which included R20m for unfair dismissal and R5m for defamation of character.
Earlier this month, the broadcaster announced that Cliff had been fired from Idols SA after he got involved in the Penny Sparrow debacle. In a Facebook post which sparked monumental social media outrage, Sparrow, a former estate agent, referred to black people as “monkeys” as they overcrowded and littered a Durban beach on New Years day.
Cliff weighed in on the issue, tweeting that “People really don’t understand free speech at all”. He has since apologised, saying that his comments had been taken the wrong way. In his court papers, he said that he was committed to “non-racialism, and-nation-building”, and that he found Sparrow’s comments “disgusting”.
In the court papers, Cliff said that he was told in a meeting that M-Net would not be extending his contract to judge the upcoming season of Idols SA.
This, he said, was despite oral agreements made with M-Net officials that it would be renewed, which he claimed had been the case previously where the actual signing of the contract was only made after the season had kicked off. He added that he was also e-mailed the audition dates as well as travel arrangements for the new season and that his image was used to advertise the new season.
Following the meeting, M-Net released a statement announcing Cliff ’s termination, but Cliff said the broadcaster’s comments defamed his character and painted him as a person opposed to racial-equality and nation-building.
This has consequently affected his career as he has other commercial interests associated with his brand. “The financial impact of the lost opportunities which are likely to follow from being labelled a racist are unlikely to be fully recovered,” Cliff said in an affidavit.
Apart from earning around R400 000 to R500 000 from M-Net for judging a season of Idols SA, Cliff said that the exposure from being an Idols SA judge earned him commercial benefits of between R4m to R5m. Cliff has stated in his court papers that the matter was urgent as that there was a wide public interest in it. See Page 4