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Lerato Moloi trends for 2 days after Tol Ass Mo interview
Model Lerato Moloi has been trending on Twitter for two days straight after comedian Tol Ass Mo slated her on a YouTube show.
Tol Ass Mo. Picture: Screenshot
Model Lerato Moloi has been trending for two days straight after comedian Tol Ass Mo slated her on YouTube show, Podcast and Chill with MacG, leading to scores of social media users cyberbullying her in defence of the comedian.
What happened between Tol Ass Mo and Lerato Moloi?
At the height of the “Me Too” movement, South African model Lerato Moloi posted a tweet recalling her own experiences of sexual assault at the hands of famous and powerful South African men.
One of the three men she named in her tweet, comedian Mongezi “Tol A$$ Mo” Ngcobondwane, took legal action against her for the allegations and she was initially served with a court order to remove the tweet.
She refused to comply with the court order, stating that she will not be silenced and police had to arrest her for being in contempt of court.
The court order dictated that the tweet was to be removed 24 hours after the order was handed down.
At the time of writing, the offending tweet was still pinned to the top of Moloi’s Twitter profile.
In 2020, Vereeniging police confirmed to Daily Sun that Moloi was arrested on Sunday and appeared in the Vereeniging Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, 1 July.
It was previously reported that the tweet was sent out in 2014, however, the tweet was sent on 11 June 2020 and at the time of writing, the tweet still had not been taken down.
On 12 June, Moloi tweeted “Lawyer’s letter no. 1 has arrived! I am not afraid!”.
READ NEXT: #MeToo movement founder calls for more action
She tweeted on 19 June: “Moments ago, I’ve just signed for & received the lawyer’s letters of demand, interim protection order; etc, from the man that raped me in 2014. I am still not afraid! I will not go silent!”.
Her last original tweet was sent on the day she appeared in court and she simply declared; “I won’t go silent!”.
Moloi’s tweets were met with tweets of support from other women, with some even offering to donate funds to foot her legal bills.
Tol Ass Mo ‘acquitted’ of rape charges
Reports based solely on a statement issued by representatives for the comedian following the outcome of their court battle stated that Tol Ass Mo had been “acquitted” of rape charges in August 2022.
Court documents relating to the case are not easily accessible and this has made it difficult to compare claims made by Tol Ass Mo and his representatives as it relates to the wording of the judgement.
Mo was being represented by a company called Specialised Security Services (SSS).
“The case went to the Paarl Magistrate’s Court where a prosecutor refused to continue and it was then sent to Cape Town and prosecutors there also would not continue due to lack of evidence. It had to be sent back to Paarl, and Mahlangu was acquitted,” commented SSS investigator Antoinette Coetzer in a past Interview with Sunday Tribune.
Tol Ass Mo on ‘Podcast and Chill’
Since Tol Ass Mo’s appearance on Podcast and Chill, there have been growing calls, mostly on Twitter, for Lerato Moloi to be arrested after Tol Ass Mo called her a liar.
“I want you to understand that I did not just win the case based on a lack of evidence,” said the comedian in a past interview with Newzroom Afrika.
Explaining the situation further to MacG and his co-host, Sol Phenduka, the comedian began by calling the model “the dark ugly one with no eyebrows” in an effort to not only slight her but distinguish between her and actress Lerato Zah Moloi.
He went on to make fun of her complexion, repeatedly call her a *b***ch” and accuse her of being “crazy”.
While recounting his own experience, the comedian constantly insinuated that the model was not mentally well and brought up the fact that she had confided in him about another one of her past sexual assault experiences.
Thereafter, he listed all the opportunities he lost as a result of the claims made by Lerato Moloi.
“I was done with the game when she dropped this tweet. I had retired but I was still making money,” said the comedian.
The comedian also called veteran South African actress Rosie Motene “the biggest South African feminist b***ch” because she showed support to Moloi in addition to making fun of Tembisa Mdoda who also said she believed Moloi. He also took a verbal jab at Penny Lebyane.
Tol Ass Mo went on to make fun of Moloi’s testimony of what she alleges happened between them despite repeatedly saying that he “empathises” with “real” rape victims.
When speaking about the court proceedings, Mo told the podcast hosts that Moloi then told the court that it “may have been his dark aura” that raped her after his lawyers rebutted her claims by stating that he had an alibi at the time of the alleged rape.
Tol Ass Mo told the podcast hosts that Moloi’s ex-husband helped him discredit her as a witness in a clip that has since gone viral online.
The comedian hailed DJ Fresh for being one of his biggest supporters for the duration of the case.
Thereafter, he made the call that women who falsely accuse men of rape should be jailed, completely ignoring the fact that perjury is a criminal offence in South Africa.
According to a report by News24, perjury cases can be prosecuted against anyone who lays criminal charges – opens a police case or files an affidavit – claiming a crime has taken place which is not entirely the truth.
READ NEXT: Tol Ass Mo cleared of sexual assault allegations made by Lerato Moloi
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