Family confirms Patrick Shai’s passing

The family of veteran actor Patrick Shai have confirmed that news of his death is true.

A Twitter account belonging to a Lekgetho Shai confirmed the news in a statement and asked that the family be granted time to process the loss.

“It is with great sadness to announce the passing of the veteran actor Ntate Patrick Shai. He passed away this morning (22 January 2022). We sincerely ask you to give the family time to process this painful loss,” read part of the statement.

The family will provide further details in due course.

News of Patrick’s death comes just days after he made headlines for challenging Cassper Nyovest to a boxing match.

Tabloid Sunday World reported on Saturday that Patrick Shai had committed suicide at his Dobsonville home.

The publication further reported that the actor had suffered greatly under the weight of the backlash in response to his challenge to Cassper.

ALSO READ: Patrick Shai – Reports of actor’s suicide rock social media

“I want to bleksem you before I die. I want to make sure that I’ve beaten you up so that on my tombstone, it is written that I am the man who beat Caster or Coster or whatever your sh*t name is… Give me that respect. Come, you son of a bi**h,” he said in his viral video.

Fans quickly noted that in referring to Cassper as a “son of a b**ch,” he was essentially calling his mom a b**ch.

This prompted Patrick to post a follow-up video apologising to Cassper and social media at large for the insult. He also shared a written statement repeating his apology.

“From the bottom of my heart, I would like to apologise. Apologise, for having [used] such strong language towards your mom. Even though the challenge would have been an ideal thing but it has now been soured by what I said.

“I regret every bit of the last sentence I used. I am sorry,” he said.

Shai has appeared in shows such as Soul City, Generations, 7de Laan and Zero Tolerance.