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Steve Hofmeyr in Twitter spat

Pretoria - The two entertainers have crossed swords frequently on their blogs.

Now Afrikaans pop idol Steve Hofmeyr has made death threats against comedian John Vlismas on Twitter, but denies he’s engaged in hate speech.

Hofmeyr this week told City Press he wasn’t joking when he stood up at the Comedy Central Roast and shoved a page of Vlismas’ script in the edgy comedian’s mouth.

In fact, says Hofmeyr, the only reason he restrained himself from “blikseming” the “tasteless” roaster was because Vlismas “is too short to hit and it would have ruined the evening for Comedy Central”.

Contacted for a response, Vlismas chuckled and said: “Bingo, Vlismas! You’ve done it. I’m very proud of the fact that I got to him. I’ve always set out to provoke.”

Moer him

When a Twitter fan suggested that Hofmeyr should have gone ahead and “moered” him, he tweeted: “I will still.”

But that was tame compared to Hofmeyr’s most controversial tweet.

The day after the roast, he posted: “I wanted to, but someone WILL assassinate Vlismas and I want to be there.”

Vlismas responded, saying: “That’s unconstitutional. Isn’t that hate speech?

I hadn’t been aware of it, but actually I have no emotional response. It’s Twitter.

I don’t follow the rantings of a middle-aged, average Neil Diamond impersonator.

Typical, he’d like to watch me being killed but not do it himself.”

Not going too far

This week, Hofmeyr denied going too far.

“Hate speech is when you say you are going to murder someone, and not in the context of a discussion about Comedy Central.”

He said he also found comedian David Kau offensive, but laughed in the spirit of the evening.

Outside the context of the roast, though, he said: “Kau would still be bleeding from the left eyeball.”

He added that Vlismas’ joke about slain rightwing leader Eugene Terre’Blanche engaging in gay sex was hate speech.

It was that joke – edited out of the broadcast – that caused him to shove the script in Vlismas’s mouth. He warned that Vlismas was turning up the heat for himself in the Afrikaans community.

“Four of my ‘black’ jokes were removed before the taping and I’m not crying. There are boundaries and I prefer it that way.”

Barbs

The two entertainers have crossed swords frequently on their blogs and in online columns. Hofmeyr has accused Vlismas of generating propaganda against Afrikaners in his comedy routines.

Vlismas responded, saying: “When did you become an authority on humanity? Steve, you’re the people’s pop tart, friend, and a good one. You made music to fulfil your dreams: wealth, fame and as much sex as one can cram into a small life. Hardly the stuff Bikos are made of.”

About the comedian’s politics, Hofmeyr said: “Liberal prescriptions can’t help you when what one really needs is a long rake to scrape you off the ceiling.”

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