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Will Gareth Cliff be back in the Idols seat soon?

Johannesburg - Controversial media personality Gareth Cliff will know on Friday whether he gets his job as a judge on M-Net's singing competition Idols back.

The channel booted him from the show following a backlash on Twitter after he commented on KwaZulu-Natal realtor Penny Sparrow's Facebook post. She called black New Year's day revellers monkeys.

Cliff tweeted: "People really don’t understand free speech at all". 

Cliff's lawyer Dali Mpofu and M-Net's legal representative Wim Trengove presented arguments in the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Cliff wanted his job back and R25 million for defamation and breach of contract. 

Trengove said M-Net did not want to be associated with someone who the public perceived as a "posterboy for racism".

Mpofu said M-Net's dismissal of Cliff was "the worst form of racism".

Auditions for Idols 2016 will begin at The Playhouse in Durban on Saturday. 


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