Cape Town - Local social media influencer Lasizwe Dambuza was recently under fire for reusing content that wasn’t his, but things took a completely different twist when the original content creator came to his defense stating that he had actually asked for permission.
The 20-year-old reality star took to his Twitter account to share yet another one of his comical skits but tweeps just weren’t having it especially because a similar clip had already been done by someone else.
READ MORE: Lasizwe named one of the top 10 most influential young South Africans
Some users even went as far as accusing him of stealing content. "Ya’ll really be stealing content huh," a tweep responded to the clip.
But it wasn’t until the original video creator came to Lasizwe’s defense, stating that he had in actual fact asked for permission, and even went as far as tagging her on his Instagram stories for accreditation.
"Hey guys he asked for permission and gave me credits on IG,"
Speaking to DRUM in an interview, Lasizwe explained that content recreation is something that’s been around for ages and that he had even invited Waylene to be a part of his creative team.
“I did ask for permission and one thing about Waylene is that she’s very creative, she’s out of this world and I’ve taken initiative to bring her onto my team as a creative writer for my skits,” he said.
Touching on the recent open up the industry debate, Lasizwe added that this was another opportunity to do just that.
“Which is now also part of open up the industry which people don’t see. People say ‘open up the industry, open up the industry’ but they don’t want to co-create.”
He further continued that, “We need to understand that in this world we need each other and I try to be funny but there’s someone who will always be ahead of me and be funnier.
The 20-year-old called for creatives and influencers to unite, “As creatives we need to collaborate and make more content which builds awareness.”
Further adding that their entire existence depends on their consumers.
“The South African influencer market is growing like crazy and people need to understand that this market is very reliant on the consumer. We basically cannot exist without the consumer”
DRUM tried to get ahold of Waylene prior to publish but she was not available for comment.
