M-Net in the early hours of Saturday morning confirmed that Gareth Cliff would no longer be part of the ‘Idols SA’ judging panel.
It comes after Cliff was embroiled in controversy regarding a race debate around estate agent, Penny Sparrow.
Responding to questions on whether to criminalise racist posts on social media, Gareth Cliff said: “People really don’t understand free speech at all.”
Twitter lashed out at Cliff, with calls to boycott Idols. He apologised and later released a blog post asking for constructive engagement.
M-net on Thursday said that it would be reviewing his future work on the show. And in the early hours of this morning this statement was released confirming that he would no longer be part of the judging panel.
Source: TimesLive