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Johannesburg - Yesterday The Juice reported on a story that Drum magazine ran about Robert Marawa breaking his silence for the first time regarding his ongoing maintenance battle with his ex-girlfriend, Zoe Mthiyane.
The magazine quoted the sports presenter as saying that he has supported his child from day one. "I have been there for my child from the moment he was born. I could never abandon my own flesh and blood." (Read that story here)
However, Robert today publicly slammed Drum, putting this message on social media.
Just for the record: I have NEVER given any "EXCLUSIVE" about anything to anyone!! Let alone declaring being a "winner" of anything!!
— robertmarawa (@robertmarawa) July 24, 2015His comments quickly became a talking point on social media, with many questioning exactly what happened.
Despite the criticism, Drum editor, Thandi Mthethwa stands by the story, explaining the circumstances around the interview with Robert.
"We had sent a journalist to the MTV MAMA's and he bumped into Robert at a pre-party. He was drinking that expensive wine. The journalist took pictures of Robert, but Robert apprehended the journalist, taking the phone and deleting all of the pictures. So we phoned Robert on Monday to find out why he had acted in this way. Robert then started talking about the story we ran."
The editor goes on to add that she is unsure as to why Robert would now go onto Twitter to dispute the interview. "Everything we have reported on is true. Robert Marawa spoke to us. He spoke to our journalist. It looks like he does not remember speaking to us. The first thing he must do is to go onto his phone and check the numbers that came from Drum magazine. It's also an exclusive interview because he has never spoken to anyone about this."
Thandi goes on to add that she is disappointed. "It is very disappointing that a person of Robert Marawa's calibre will go on social media and lie that he never spoke to our journalist. If he's so confident that he never spoke to us, he can act on this."
UPDATE: Speaking to The Juice while on an overseas trip, Robert Marawa has spoken out about the furore surrounding his Drum magazine cover.
Robert says that when at the MTV MAMA's, a Drum journalist tried to take pictures of him sipping on champagne. On Monday, the journalist phoned to get comment on a story the magazine was working on regarding him drinking expensive champagne. It was then that he referred the journalist to High Court papers, which are easily available to the public. "At no point was I aware that this was an interview, never mind an exclusive. An exclusive implies sitting down and agreeing to being interviewed and taking part in a photo shoot. Instead, they used old images of myself and made it seem as if it was a tell-all. It was a six minute conversation, nothing more. I have proof of the time period - six minutes is not an exclusive."
Robert says that his legal team will be assessing the article and will determine at a later stage whether or not to take action. "If we find that there is enough evidence to go ahead to court with it, we'll go ahead and do that. I'll be more than happy to do that."
