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Fired F-bomb newsreader has no regrets

Johannesburg - Newsreader Mark Esterhuysen said on Twitter on Tuesday that he had no regrets about losing his job over swearing 13 times during an Eyewitness News (EWN) bulletin.

Esterhuysen tweeted that he had "no regrets about my bulletin".

"Just like Jerry Maguire, I have lost the ability to bullshit. I'll accept the consequences of it," he tweeted on Monday.

Esterhuysen used the word "fuck" repeatedly in a 01:00 broadcast.

EWN editor Katy Katopodis said he had been summarily dismissed.

Although she had been unable to reach Esterhuysen by phone, a letter of dismissal had been delivered to his house.

"We can't tolerate that kind of behaviour. I don't think it's appropriate to use our platform, which is credible, to promote your own agenda," she said.

A 41-second clip, purportedly of the broadcast, on the website twitvid.com had garnered 35 000 views by Tuesday afternoon.

In it a man who identifies himself as Mark Esterhuysen, says: "Fuck racism, fuck the pigs who killed Andries Tatane, fuck the AWB, fuck racism. We are all wild animals here, meant to live free.

"Fuck capitalism, fuck fascism. Fuck this fucking wage slavery shit. Fuck domestication, fuck Julius Malema, fuck the state. Fuck the petrol economic growth on a finite planet."

On his Twitter feed, he identified himself as an enemy of the state, a defender of anarchy, a proud member of the primate clan, a cunning linguist, and a master debater.

He had tweeted that all he wanted in life "is for @GarethCliff to read my blog".

His most recent blog was on the role of sport in modern South Africa, from an anarchist perspective.

Other topics dealt with the futility of civilisation.

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