Popular broadcaster Gareth Cliff found himself topping the trends list last week when a few people allege to have had the least favorable encounters with him. It all started when a woman, revealed to be a 27-year-old accused him of making sexual passes at her and a group of friends at a club when they were just 15 years old.
Taking to his official Facebook page and Cliff Central blog to clear his name, Gareth denied these allegations saying they 'come with the territory.' In a lengthy statement he defended himself saying when he used to work for 5FM as a DJ, he would play at clubs on weekends and would buy people drinks. He also mentions that he probably did make a move on women but said he would have not pursued them had they been truthful about their ages.
He kissed my friend at a club after buying us lots of drinks (we told him when we first met that we were 15...but he didn't care 🙃) https://t.co/sjzxKU7kZO
"On Friday I became a trending topic on Twitter. Nothing unusual here – I’ve been used to this since social media became a big deal in South Africa, but it’s still never welcome news.
"Someone posted a tweet saying that when she and her friends were 15 (she’s 27 now), she met me at a nightclub and I bought them drinks and propositioned them.
Needless to say it took off on Twitter and other fallacious titbits piled up about everything I’ve probably never done...I’ve been a broadcaster for 25 years, which puts me in the public eye, so I came to understand long ago that this comes with the territory. While I was at 5FM I used to deejay at clubs every weekend for over a decade.
"I’d be lying if I said I’d never bought drinks for people or that I’d never made a move on someone I met in a club, but I can, without any fear of contradiction be sure that I would never have done this if someone told me they were underage, or if I discovered this on my own," said the broadcaster.
He then goes on to talk about how he has hogged headlines since his fame claiming to have been accused of doing things he has never done.
"Over the years there have been multiple accusations about me and complaints lodged with the BCCSA about things I didn’t actually say. These are documented in my last book and were proven to be misconstrued or taken out of context. The sensational headlines which media outlets use to sell newspapers or, in today’s world as ‘clickbait’, sadly fuel the cesspool of disinformation.
"I’m not a journalist… but as being part of the media industry all these years, I urge journalists to dig deeper than Twitter for newsworthy stories and to editors, to dig deeper than scandal for some integrity in allowing false and damaging headlines. What is the reward of a few more clicks against the damage to a person’s life?
"And as a long time ambassador for Women and Men Against Child Abuse and SGBV causes, last year I hosted a series of webinars on this topic and dedicated shows on eNCA to creating awareness around this tragedy. It doesn’t help the seriousness of this situation that Twitter warriors and some of the media chase the Twitter trends about “celebrities”, while South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of rape and femicide – which have escalated since the lockdown."
