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POPULAR Kaya FM breakfast show host Phat Joe came under fire on Friday after angry listeners called the station and slammed the way he had handled a discussion on the Caster Semenya saga that morning.
During his regular listener call-in segment, Phat Joe, real name Majota Khambule, invited listeners to express their views about the latest developments in the debacle.
Instead of saying that Semenya had underdeveloped internal testes instead of ovaries and a womb as reported in the Australian media he was quoting, Phat Joe kept repeating that Semenya had testicles.
He added: “Could it be at this point she has not had her period? She should have known that something was wrong; or is she still waiting for her period?”
He then asked the listeners: “Did she cheat at the IAAF championships?”
Outraged by this, listeners then called in and lambasted Khambule, saying he was making a mockery of Semenya’s situation and being insensitive towards her and her family.
Jan from Doornkop said, “Joe, I don’t know what you are trying to push. You were corrected three times that it is not testicles but testes. Put it right and let’s be sensitive about it.”
A few seconds later, after he was handed a piece of paper by a producer, Joe remarked, “So I am right, testes and testicles are apparently the same thing. I rest my case.”
Another anonymous caller said Khambule was an embarrassment to the Johannesburg-based station.
“You have been doing a lot of wrong things at the station and I am surprised that they still kept you as an employee. You are a DJ and should only raise an issue and invite the listeners to comment. You should learn to keep your mouth shut.”
A female listener said: “It makes me so sad because I love Kaya FM. He must just think and use his brain.”
Kaya FM station manager Greg Maloka said they were disturbed by what had transpired. “The position is not to exacerbate; her rights have already been violated. We all know that Joe is a loose cannon and his show is edgy, but there are limits.’’
This is not the first time Phat Joe has been in trouble. A few years ago he incited the ire of e.tv when he said working there was “like being in Afghanistan being run by the Taliban”.
Apart from ridiculing former talk show host Felicia Mabuza-Suttle while he was still at YFM, Phat Joe lambasted Metro FM and did the same to the youth station after he joined the competition.
