NATIONAL NEWS - Media personality Gareth Cliff says he lost out on several business deals after weighing in on the racism debacle sparked by KwaZulu-Natal estate agent Penny Sparrow.
Early last year‚ Sparrow triggered a storm on social networking sites after she referred to black beachgoers as “monkeys”.
Sparrow has since been fined R150 000 by the Umzinto Equality Court‚ which ordered her to pay that sum to the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation.
Cliff found himself in hot water on Twitter after he spoke out on the debacle‚ defending Sparrow’s right to freedom of speech.
The former 5FM radio host said he regrets ever weighing into the debate as it cost him many deals he had in the pipeline.
“I had a tiny baby of a business that was a year old and we had pitifully commercial clients such as your big banks and big corporates who cancelled their advertising deals with us because they didn’t want to associate themselves with anyone who was controversial‚” said Cliff‚ who is currently a judge on talent show Idols and owns online radio station Cliff Central.
