Well, here’s a quick way to make cash. That’s if your name is Gareth Cliff of course.
Gareth Cliff has sued M-Net for R25 million.
Speaking to Daily Sun , his lawyer Erica Mbauza confirms that the former Idols SA judge is suing the broadcaster for defamation of character, unfair dismissal and damages.
Cliff’s legal team served M-Net with the law suit on Friday afternoon and gave them until 2pm yesterday to respond to his requests.
This comes after the controversial media personality was fired from Idols SA a week ago, following a series of Tweets about people not acknowledging freedom of speech during the Penny Sparrow drama.
As we all know Sparrow got into some trouble with the social media world after she referred to black people as monkey’s in a Facebook status.
Her status was in an instant shared across social media pages and for now, the rest is history.
When Cliff’s lawyers were asked how they came up with the figure of R25 Million, Mabuza shares: “You can imagine that there are five seasons to come for Idols SA and we are expecting R4 million per season.
“That adds up to R20 million and the other R5 million is for defamation of character.”
He adds that Mr Cliff’s character has been defamed by the broadcaster, specially after M-Net shared that his views were not racist but rather insensitive. “For Gareth it isn’t just about the money. He wants to be reinstated as a judge on the show,” said Mabuza.
Mabuza adds that if M-Net does not respond in favour of the lawsuit, attorney Dali Mpofu has already drafted papers to take the issue further and land it into court.
M-Net CEO Yolisa Phahle said in a statement: “M-Net can confirm that a letter of demand was received from Gareth Cliff and we are currently consulting our lawyers. We will respond to the letter of demand in due course.”
