Johannesburg – South African reality star and celebrity Somizi Mhlongo-Motaung has released a video on his Instagram page stating he is not sorry for targeting City Press journalist Julia Madibogo.
Motaung did however, acknowledge that what he did was wrong but said he is not sorry for what he had done.
In his video he also rubbished claims that his husband, Mohale Motaung-Mhlongo, had cheated on him with a married man with children.
Read the latest: LISTEN: Somizi sticks to his guns
The public personality, Somizi, went on to state in his video that he has been consitantly bullied by the media over the years and wanted to show the journalist what it felt like.
Somizi, however, did not address or acknowledge the attack on Sunday World editor, Kabelo Khumalo, which he instituted.
He went on to discredit the City Press article and the media in general about publishing factually incorrect pieces and claimed he would succumb to the pressure of being bullied, like other personalities have. He did not name which personalities though.
Somizi targeted the Sunday World editor and a City Press journalist after being approached for comment regarding an article.
Somizi was approached for comment by Sunday World regarding an article in connection with alleged legal proceedings instituted by Hastings Moeng regarding season 2 of his show ‘Dinner at Somizi’s’ being put on hold, by Sunday World.
Somizi then responded to the Sunday World editor with vulgar slurs, took a screen shot of the question posed to him and posted the message on to Instagram.
Read more: Somizi loses his cool as his show is put on ice
Somizi seemingly battled to muster up a response of ‘no comment’ and resorted to attacking journalists in a form of online bullying.
He also posted the phone number of the Sunday World editor as well as that of the City Press journalist, and encouraged his followers to harass the members of the media, urging them to call the numbers displayed.
Also read: Somizi in hot water after Sanef demands an apology for targeting journalists
This unfortunate incident resulted in the Sunday World editor receiving tons of hate texts as well as unsavory phone calls, simply for doing a job and approaching the subject of a story for a right of reply.
This resulted in the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) demanding that Somizi apologise to Madibogo and Khumalo.
Sanef said that they have been left left outraged by this behaviour and demanded that Somizi unreservedly apologises to these journalists and the public on all his social platforms for his unbecoming behaviour.
Sanef said in a statement, “He must call on his followers to stop harassing and intimidating them. Further, we call on the journalists to lay charges of intimidation and for MultiChoice to officially distance themselves from Mhlongo’s comments. SANEF reiterates its call on the journalism industry to urgently ensure the safety of journalists, especially women reporters, and to note that support is needed to address online attacks.”
The posting of the phone numbers of Madibogo and Khumalo on social media, to which Somizi, has millions of followers, where he encouraged his followers to troll and dial the numbers that he posted, resulted in various threats and hate messages directed at the two journalists.
Have you read: Somizi and Mohale’s marriage on the rocks as the latter vacates their home
Watch Somizi’s video below:
View this post on Instagram
Have you read: Sunday World editor and City Press journalist targeted by Somizi
“Some have directly threatened Madibogo and Khumalo’s wife with rape while Khumalo received threats to his life. The fans also threatened the safety of the journalists’ families. They have tormented them for doing their jobs and asking questions in line with the Press Code that demands of journalists to give a right of reply to everyone they intend to write stories about,” Sanef further stated.
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