Somizi. Picture: Refilwe Modise
An “open letter” to Somizi “and his gay “friends”, which is actually in the form of a video, sees Twitter user ‘De Original Careless’ (@CarelessDe) accuse the famous socialite and choreographer, and some of his friends, of dressing like clowns and “trying too hard”.
If the creator of the video posted it for attention, it appears to be working. The video tweet has nearly 500 RTs, and is nearing 1 000 likes at the time of this story being published. ‘Somizi’ has also trended on Twitter, largely due to the tweet.
In the video, a mix of isiZulu, Setswana and English, the man takes pains to explain that he has no problem with gay people, saying he has gay and bisexual friends in what some on social media have considered the homophobe’s answer to the “some of my best friends are black” line used by racists.
He goes on to say it is only the flamboyant and over-the-top dress sense of homosexuals that he objects to, advising gay men to dress conservatively.
READ MORE: Somizi hunts for woman who called him a ‘homosexual k*****tjie’
He uses Somizi’s partner, Mohale Motaung, as an example of someone who “dresses simply and doesn’t attract attention”.
In a confusing moment in the video, the man says he believes men like experimenting, adding there may come a point where a straight man will “accommodate” a gay man.
He says a straight man may sleep with a gay man in the name of experimentation, and that he believes it “only becomes a problem when he has to walk the gay guy out and they’re dressed flamboyantly”. He says people may “get the wrong impression” seeing him with the flamboyantly dressed gay person.
The irony of a straight man who has slept with a gay man worrying about people getting the “wrong impression” appears lost on the video’s author.
Or, as a Twitter user put it:
The equally blatant irony of a man with lines shaved into his eyebrow and a tattoo on his neck accusing others of looking like clowns also appears to have missed the man.
We have reached out to Somizi for comment, and will keep readers updated with what he says.
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