Shock jock Gareth Cliff has once again put himself at the centre of controversy.
The founder of CliffCentral.com apparently sided with Penny Sparrow, whose racist statements have sparked revulsion around the country, but apologised yesterday – only to do an about-turn.
On Monday, Cliff retweeted a poll on Twitter that asked whether racist social media posts like Sparrow’s should be criminalised. With his retweet, he wrote: “People really don’t understand free speech at all.”
This angered many users of the social media platform, who then questioned him.
@charnengwane asked: “Would you use Monkey to us Blacks Gareth?”
To which Cliff responded by saying: “Nope, because I understand the ugly historical context, but ultimately we’re all monkeys – thanks, Charles Darwin.”
In his apology less than 24 hours later, he said: “I’ve been an insensitive ass*** many times. This whole saga with the idiotic comments of Penny Sparrow has upset me but I must acknowledge the pain and anger of so many on Twitter who thought I’d in any way condone the things she said.
“If you thought I was on the side of a racist, I thought we were already in agreement about how you can’t stand up FOR racism. If I didn’t make it clear, I apologise – sincerely. With regard to free speech and hate speech, I need to continue my education.”
On Monday, though, he had been much less diplomatic. In a series of tweets, he said: “Freedom of speech means having the right to hear things you don’t agree with, not just things you do…
“Hate speech is very specifically defined in law. Free speech is something we agreed to as a modern, open society… Free speech means you can say ‘f*** you’ to me. I can easily dismiss you as a moron.”
He tweeted to @LesetjaMasalesa that “you don’t have a right NOT to be insulted”.
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