The Afrikaans singer Demi Lee Moore who won in the category for Best Music Video at the controversial kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 on Wednesday night which kykNET (DStv 144) dumped as a live awards show broadcast, honoured the 5 artists from the music video that MultiChoice as sponsor ordered to be removed, while Steve Hofmeyr's son Devon and a friend were told to leave the awards show.
In her on-stage acceptance speech at the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 at the Sun Arena at Times Square in Pretoria that was a very empty awards show due to the growing controversy, Demi Lee Moore showed solidarity with the artists of Die Land ("The Land") music video.
The music video was nominated in the same category as Demi Lee Moore, after which MultiChoice, as a sponsor and kykNET, ordered the video to be removed since it featured the controversial singer Steve Hofmeyr who appears in it together with several other artists.
MultiChoice on 25 March gave the Ghoema Music Trust an ultimatum and ordered the awards show to remove Steve Hofmeyr and one of his songs from the nominee list and told the organisers that MultiChoice will withdraw as a sponsor if this isn't done.
The Land featuring Afrikaans singers like Bok van Blerk, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Jay, and Touch of Class, besides Steve Hofmeyr.
Steve Hofmeyr as a white Afrikaans man has increasingly courted public controversy and acrimony the past few years with provocative public statements, comments and images about race on social media.
In February 2019 for instance he tweeted a photo of himself on social media posing with the old South African flag and captioned it with: "Good rains. Found a waterproof roof. Mooi ne" meaning "pretty, right?"
Demi Lee Moore in her acceptance speech said "I don't think I would have stood here if The Land wasn't removed. We are here to celebrate Afrikaans music and I feel that's what it should be about".
"Luckily, it's not about be. It's about Christian Wolf that made my video, as we as The Land video. Johan Oberholzer who wrote Mis Eet Slaap Herhaal (Missing Eat Sleep Repeat) as well as The Land."
"I want to share this with the 5 artists who are not being honoured here tonight. Furthermore I want to dedicate it to every person who still has hope in this land, who stays in this country, raising their kids in this country and who loves this country," Demi Lee Moore said.
Several singers like Bok van Blerk, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Dewald Wasserfall, Corlea Botha, Adam Tas, Nicholis Louw and Ruhan du Toit decided to boycott kykNET's Ghoemas and were no shows on Wednesday, with sponsors Bok Radio and Immunadue who both pulled their sponsorships of the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019.
Meanwhile the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 told Steve Hofmeyr's son Devon and a friend who both showed up, to leave the awards show auditorium.
Devon and a friend, Francois van der Merwe, were escorted out when it was discovered that they had no tickets. It's not clear how they gained entry to the music awards show.
The controversy inflicted massive damage on the production of the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 with images of the very empty-looking auditorium that were shared on social media, and people who were asked to move to the front to fill up the empty seats.
kykNET's spokesperson Suzaan Keyter and Karen Meiring, director of M-Net's Afrikaans kykNET channels have not yet responded with answers to multiple questions that were posed to the channel on Wednesday about the swirling kykNET Ghoema Music Awards controversy.
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. I said no to Steve Hofmeyr years ago - then South African Afrikaans television finally caught up and rightly said no but in one of the worst ways possible.
ALSO READ: Ongoing silence from kykNET as DStv's Afrikaans channel remains quiet over questions around its handling of the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 controversy.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice orders the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards to remove Steve Hofmeyr as nominee, as kykNET dumps it as a live broadcast, after which singers now say they will boycott tonight's awards show.
