Nando’s has terminated its sponsorship of Gareth Cliff’s show, The Burning Platform, “with immediate effect” over racial insensitivity on the part of the show’s host.
On The Burning Platform, Cliff had described the One South Africa Movement member Mudzuli Rakhivhane’s experiences of racism as “anecdotal” and “Unimportant,” an observation that provoked outrage across South Africa.
The company insisted that it will never invalidate anyone’s experiences or condone racism in any way, adding it is taking seriously what transpired on the set of The Burning Platform.
In its statement, Nando’s noted that Cliff failed to create an environment for free speech but dismissed Rakhivhane’s experiences instead.
Cliff was interviewing DA leader John Steenhuisen and One South Africa Movement member Mudzuli Rakhivhane at the same time when he made the slip that cost him the sponsorship.
Cliff he claimed that racism was at the “bottom of the list for most South Africans,” leading Rakhivhane to state that most people have no experienced the form of racism she experienced daily.
To this, Cliff had stated that Rakhivhane’s experiences were “anecdotal” and “unimportant.” The outrage was ignited then.
By the way, before Nando’s terminated its sponsorship of The Burning Platform, it had sponsored it for five years.
