Zodwa under fire for homophobic comments on show
Zodwa Wabantu’s infamous show “Zodwa Wabantu uncensored” has come under plenty of criticism since she made homophobic comments that have encouraged people online to start the hashtags #ZodwaCancelled. Her crude comments were on gay people always fighting with women in the industry despite them not having vaginas. Strange, but okay Zodwa…
“Gays are silly because they are fighting with women. Name one gay who has never fought with a woman in the industry. Their problem is that they (gays) are convinced that they have a vagina, while they have a penis. We [women] have vagina […] We accommodate you guys because you wear make-up and when we (women ) talk about men you always there echoing the stories,” said Zodwa.
Since then the #ZodwaCancelled hashtag began to circulate on Twitter, with people asking for the Moja Love show to be cancelled. On the other side of the spectrum, “Save Zodwa Wabantu’s Show” began to trend after people began to express that they saw nothing wrong with her comments because she’s “calling a spade a spade” or because “that’s how she speaks”. Both trends can be seen on Twitter with petition links attached to them. At the time of this article being written, the petition to cancel the show contains more than 4000 signatures, while the former has 736.
Zodwa soon came out to defend herself by asking how she could possibly be gay when she has “20 gay friends”. The musician even emphasised the fact that “Even [her] designer is gay” and that she was “just talking about [her] friends”
“How can I be homophobic when I have more than 20 gay friends. Even my designer is gay. I was talking about my friends […] I am talking about something that I have observed about them since they are my friends. Anyway that is a reality show, I am calling it as I see it,” she said.
Instead of apologizing, Zodwa pulled out “the association card”, one that is all too familiar and overused when racists try to prove they are not racist. It’s not impossible to be homophobic and have gay friends and you certainly do not need to have a vagina to affirm your social status among women. And Zodwa, cishet women do not need to “accommodate” gay people. Gay people, and other people from the LGBTQIA+ community can take up space in society without having to ask anyone for permission.
