After years of courting controversy, Die Antwoord have executed it once more with one other scandal to their title. This time, the South African rap-rave duo are accused of cultural appropriation – the act of exploiting or disrespecting parts of one other tradition or id.
Earlier this month, the group – made up of Watkin Jones and Andri du Toit aka Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser – participated within the annual Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebration or Cape Town Minstrel Carnival.
But their involvement noticed a backlash from their followers, who known as out the caucasian hitmakers for taking part in a cultural custom created by colonisers.
But it’s not the primary time the favored group has introduced the shock issue…
ALSO READ: ‘It was too much’: Ex-nanny accuses Die Antwoord of exploitation
DIE ANTWOORD SCANDALS THAT SAW THEM ‘CANCELLED’
Child abuse and neglect
Last 12 months, Die Antwoord made headlines for all of the incorrect causes after their adopted son Tokkie made a collection of allegations in opposition to them, together with youngster abuse and neglect.
The now 20-year-old has claimed that his former guardians uncovered him to medicine, pornography and sexual exercise, violent criminals, and even “black magic” rituals.
ALSO READ: ‘No hate in our hearts’: Die Antwoord lastly responds to youngster abuse claims
Human trafficking
In 2019, Australian feminine rapper Zheani Sparkes went public with elaborate allegations that Ninja had drugged, sexually assaulted, and human trafficked her into South Africa.
Zheani made the claims in a “diss track” known as The Question, a play on Die Antwoord (that means “The Answer” in Afrikaans). In the accompanying music video, Zheani shared screenshots of her interactions with each Ninja and Yo-Landi, which started when she was simply 20 years outdated.
ALSO READ: Blood rituals, porn & violence: Die Antwoord’s ‘child slave’ tells all [watch]
According to Zheani, Ninja claimed he was a “warlock” infatuated along with her as she resembled his daughter. She additionally claims he gave her magic mushrooms while on a visit in SA and had “erratic behaviour”.
According to Sydney Morning Herald, Zheani claims that Ninja additionally had “aggressive” intercourse along with her in opposition to her will.
Zheani additionally accused Yo-Landi of “grooming” her and performing a “Satanic ritual” on her. She additionally accused Ninja of “revenge porn”, claiming her shared specific footage of her along with his mates.
Ninja and Yo-Landi denied the claims made by Zheani, and accused her of making an attempt to revenue from Die Antwoord’s title.
Groping
A 12 months later, Ninja was accused of sexual assault once more; this time by Italian-American singer Jade Carroll – who is thought by her stage title Dionna Dal Monte.
The singer informed Sydney Morning Herald how Die Antwoord invited her to observe them carry out at their Padova live performance in Italy.
She recalled the incident, stating: “He’s grabbing my t*ts while I am trying to push him off. I said ‘Get off of me, get off of me’, and he’s grabbing my breasts. He puts his hand under my shirt dress, into my stockings and literally tries to put his hand inside my vagina”.
According to the publication, Ninja denied the accusations as soon as once more. He mentioned: “I can’t believe that the media is spending its time pursuing these wild and unsubstantiated stories from people who have an obvious agenda and animus against me”.
HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, INCLUDING GBV
According to former Die Antwoord videographer Ben Crossman, Ninja had a historical past of being violent in the direction of girls. He recalled one explicit incident of Ninja assembly an area band who was their help act in South Africa.
Ben informed Sydney Morning Herald: “Ninja grabbed her [the lead singer] by the throat backstage, held her up in opposition to a wall and informed her how whack she was, how onerous she was making an attempt however she wasn’t s**t. He was choking her.
Ben additionally remembers Ninja assaulting Yo-Landi forward of their look on The David Letterman Show in 2012 in New York.
He added: “They were trying to come up with the dance moves for the song and Yolandi [Visser] was not getting it right and Ninja hit her really hard”.
The band’s former supervisor Jay Savage additionally slammed the teams poisonous behaviour. He informed the publication: “The behaviour is ferocious, it’s unrepentant, it’s unremorseful. Someone can’t just be told goodbye, they have to be buried in some way.”
Ninja claimed each accusations have been “false”.
Connection to violent gangs
In the video interview between Ben Crossman and Tokkie, the latter reveals that as a baby, each Ninja and Yo-Landi permitted him to be within the firm of a convicted killer gangster: Andre Gideon aka “Anies”.
According to stories, Anies – who belonged to the “Numbers” gang in jail, and “Ugly Americans” gang exterior – was relationship Yo-Landi in 2013. Anies – a self-confessed hitman – was killed in a drive-by taking pictures.
According to Tokkie, Die Antwoord inspired him to befriend Anies, whom he spent intensive time with.
Homophobia
In 2019, Die Antwoord was accused of an alleged hate crime in opposition to Andy Butler of band Hercules and Love Affair.
In the clip from 2012 taken on the Future Music live performance, Yo-Landi accuses Andy of “groping her” within the rest room. Ninja then assaults Ben, referring to him with a homophobic slur and spitting in his face.
However, in the direction of the tip of the clip, Yo-Landi is seen crying, with Ninja telling her that her “performance” is “Oscar-winning”.
The clip noticed the group being canceled as headliners from quite a few festivals. Ninja, nonetheless, denied that Die Antwoord are homophobic.
He mentioned: “This was just a fight with someone who f**ked with us, not a hate crime. This fight had nothing to do with the fact this guy is gay. We don’t care about people’s sexual preference”.
He additionally claimed that the clip was “edited”.
