The Afrikaans kykNET Ghoema Music Awards to continue as it faces numerous challenges, Heidi Edeling out as CEO.

The Afrikaans Ghoema Music Awards that was overshadowed by controversy this year will continue – along with kykNET as a sponsor – although Heidi Edeling is out as CEO of the Ghoema Music Trust.

Controversy erupted in April before the 8th annual kykNET Ghoema Music Awards at the Sun Arena in Pretoria when MultiChoice demanded the removal of “Die Land” music video as an already-announced nominee in one of the categories because it featured the controversial Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr appearing as one of a group of artists in the video. 

MultiChoice said that it would revoke its sponsorship of the Ghoemas if the music video was not removed and the Ghoemas agreed.

The planned live broadcast of the 2019 Ghoema Music Awards was scuppered without any warning and Steve Hofmeyr’s son Devon who didn’t have accreditation or tickets but circumvented security and got a seat inside the venue was removed when he and a friend tried to cause a disruption during an acceptance speech.

At its first meeting on Wednesday after this year’s awards show that included representatives from record companies like Coleske Artists, Sony/Select, Universal Music, Vonk as well as kykNET whose channels boss Karen Meiring is one of the trustees, the Ghoemas management decided to continue with the awards despite numerous challenges. Heidi Edeling will no longer serve as CEO and a trustee of the Ghoemas.

Ongoing silence from kykNET as DStv's Afrikaans channel remains quiet over questions around its handling of the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 controversy.

M-Net's Afrikaans kykNET channels division is still silent with director Karen Meiring who has not responded with any answers in media enquiries the past two days to questions around pertinent issues around the channel's handling of its kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 awards show that was plunged into controversy this week.

kykNET, that appears to have managed the controversy involving its Afrikaans channel brand badly, has been asked since Wednesday afternoon and several times since, for comment from the channel specifically pertaining to channel management, channel brand, policy and strategy issues.

The controversy surrounding the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 came follows after an ultimatum from MultiChoice as the main sponsor, ordering that a music video nominee featuring Steve Hofmeyr, be removed from the Afrikaans music awards show.

The singer Steve Hofmeyr who had a long-running Safta-winning talk and variety show, Dis Hoe Dit Is Met Steve for several years on kykNET (DStv 144) since 2001, has increasingly courted public controversy and acrimony the past few years.

With provocative public statements, as well as ongoing race-baiting comments and images on social media like saying "blacks are the architects of apartheid" and supporting the old South African flag, the singer has increasingly become a polarising and persona non grata public figure within the Afrikaans and broader South African community.

Steve Hofmeyr happened to appear in the Die Land (The Land) music video that was a nominee in the category for Best Music Video at the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019. Besides him, it features several other Afrikaans singers like Bok van Blerk, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Jay, and Touch of Class.

The badly-attended awards show managed by the Ghoema Music Trust - likely due to the resulting controversy that made talent and ticket-buyers rather stay away - took place on Wednesday evening at the Sun Arena at Times Square in Pretoria.

kykNET originally scheduled it as a live awards show broadcast for Wednesday evening but then quietly dumped it without any notification to the media and shifted it to Saturday night, 20 April as an edited programme - likely out of caution and fear of possible live on-air disruption or messages it won't be able to prevent as part of a live broadcast.

Several DStv subscribers on social media also indicated throughout Wednesday that they have called to cancel their DStv and kykNET channel pay-TV subscriptions and others who said they are going to do so.

Meanwhile several Afrikaans singers like Bok van Blerk, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Dewald Wasserfall, Corlea Botha, Adam Tas, Nicholis Louw and Ruhan du Toit decided to boycott the awards show and were no-shows.

The Afrikaans singer Demi Lee Moore who won in the category for Best Music Video at the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 in her acceptance speech on-stage on Wednesday night honoured the 5 artists from the music video that MultiChoice as sponsor ordered to be removed.

Steve Hofmeyr's son Devon and a friend were also told to leave the awards show venue after they somehow gained entry without tickets and tried to cause disruption.

kykNET was asked since Wednesday about various issues that South Africa's TV industry has been wondering about.

So far the channel has been silent, with only MultiChoice that is running the DStv satellite pay-TV service on which the kykNET channel is carried, issuing an overall statement, saying "We are committed to the building of a non-racial society and strongly condemn any acts of discrimination" and that the company "welcomes a society where freedom of speech is celebrated, however we take a stand against racism".

On Thursday morning kykNET spokesperson Suzaan Keyter told TVwithThinus that it wasn't possible to respond to media enquiries on Wednesday since kykNET staff were all at, and busy at, the venue.

kykNET was again asked for answers to the various questions on Thursday morning and Thursday before the close of day but by Friday kykNET still hasn't responded to the media. No explanation has yet been forthcoming as to why kykNET couldn't respond to media enquiries on Thursday the day after the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019.

Karen Meiring was asked for reaction from kykNET as a channel over MultiChoice as a sponsor ordering the Ghoema Music Awards to remove a nominee after nominees were chosen and announced.

kykNET was also asked for its reaction over the Afrikaans singers not connected to Steve Hofmeyr, who said - and then went through - with their boycott of the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019.

With MultiChoice refusing to support and distancing itself from a new music video in which Steve Hofmeyr appears, kykNET was asked whether kykNET as a channel on DStv is still allowed to schedule and broadcast Steve Hofmeyr music videos - in other words, whether any type of ban, block or policy decision has been placed or made at M-Net regarding the future airing of any of his entertainment work on kykNET.

kykNET was also asked for the channel's response to DStv subscribers who said that they have called and cancelled their DStv subscriptions and customers who said that they intend to, and also what kykNET's message is to the channel's viewers in the light of events.

kykNET was also asked how viewers and consumer who had voted and spent money on voting for Die Land music video in the category before it was removed from the kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019, would be paid back or refunded, and whether this is at all possible.


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: Afrikaans singer Demi Lee Moore after winning Best Music Video at controversial kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 honours artists from removed nomination as Steve Hofmeyr's son is told to leave the auditorium.
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.

Afrikaans singer Demi Lee Moore after winning Best Music Video at controversial kykNET Ghoema Music Awards 2019 honours artists from removed nomination as Steve Hofmeyr's son is told to leave the auditorium.

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.