Laugh it Off bows to public pressure
11 November 2009, 11:14
By Gill Gifford
Satirical T-shirt company Laugh it Off has this morning removed a controversial image on its website depicting the naked body of Sara Baartman with male genitalia and the smiling face of Julius Malema.
Laugh It Off had been testing the public's response to the design, to gauge its popularity, before printing it on T-shirts.
The design aimed to highlight the recent gender row involving athlete Caster Semenya and the surprising comments that followed from Malema, the ANC Youth League leader.
Laugh It Off spokesperson Ruan Kemp said "Hermafrotiet" - as the image was named - had been intended to poke fun at Malema, but instead of raising laughs, it had raised public ire and condemnation.
"Ja, we removed it this morning. We've had a lot of complaints, and most of them are coming from our fans," he said.
Baartman, a Khoisan woman, was shipped to England in the 19th century where she was paraded as a sexual freak.
Parts of her body were preserved and exhibited in a museum in France after her death. Her remains were brought back to South Africa for reburial in 2002.
This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title The Star. For more about this story, carry on watching iol.co.za or click here to subscribe to the digital or print edition of the newspaper.
Satirical T-shirt company Laugh it Off has this morning removed a controversial image on its website depicting the naked body of Sara Baartman with male genitalia and the smiling face of Julius Malema.
Laugh It Off had been testing the public's response to the design, to gauge its popularity, before printing it on T-shirts.
The design aimed to highlight the recent gender row involving athlete Caster Semenya and the surprising comments that followed from Malema, the ANC Youth League leader.
Laugh It Off spokesperson Ruan Kemp said "Hermafrotiet" - as the image was named - had been intended to poke fun at Malema, but instead of raising laughs, it had raised public ire and condemnation.
"Ja, we removed it this morning. We've had a lot of complaints, and most of them are coming from our fans," he said.
Baartman, a Khoisan woman, was shipped to England in the 19th century where she was paraded as a sexual freak.
Parts of her body were preserved and exhibited in a museum in France after her death. Her remains were brought back to South Africa for reburial in 2002.
This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title The Star. For more about this story, carry on watching iol.co.za or click here to subscribe to the digital or print edition of the newspaper.
