NATIONAL NEWS - Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr’s son, Devon, told the media that this week his father had received over 5 000 videos for a competition boycotting MultiChoice, Rekord Centurion reports.
The “competition” – begun by Hofmyer – encouraging MultiChoice subscribers to post videos of themselves destroying their satellite dishes.
This follows a decision by the satellite TV service to no longer broadcast any content related to the singer.
Early this month, Hofmeyr uploaded a video of himself on his Facebook page in which he “cancelled” his MultiChoice subscription.
In the video, he is also seen removing his dish from his roof and tossing it to the ground. He then drives over his decoder with his car.
Within 24 hours of uploading this video, Hofmeyr had over 350 000 views on his Facebook page before the video was removed.
Hofmeyr then urged his fans to follow suit by launching a Facebook boycotting competition with a R10 000 cash price for the best video.
Meanwhile, the cash price has grown as Hofmeyr received sponsors for second and third place prizes in the competition.
The civil rights organisation, Afriforum declared a dispute earlier this month against MultiChoice after the TV giant announced at the end of April it would no longer broadcast content by Hofmeyr.
As a result, Hofmeyr’s Ghoema nomination was also withdrawn for this year’s award ceremony.
Afriforum said in a press release last month it would be taking steps against MultiChoice following what they have described as “the inconsistent application of this television company’s political policy”.
Deputy Afriforum CEO Ernst Roets said MultiChoice has the “fullest right” to follow a political policy, but that clients also have the right to insist that it be applied consistently.
“If Hofmeyr’s contents on all platforms are prohibited because of its judgments, but people like Mazwai are rewarded by setting them as airlines, it indicates that MultiChoice … operate double standards.”
The media contacted MultiChoice to find out precisely how many subscriptions have been cancelled following Hofmeyr’s boycott competition.
“I am unfortunately not able to shed any light on your query as we cannot provide information on subscriber numbers during a closed period,” said MultiChoice spokesperson Benedict Maaga.
