Jack Parow apologises: It wasn’t me!

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Jack Parow (Twitter)

Afrikaans rapper Jack Parow has finally responded to the outrage caused by his homophobic meme on Tuesday, apologising and claiming that he didn’t actually post it himself.

Facing calls for his sponsors to drop him over the offensive Twitter post promoting his ‘Parow Brandy,’ the star insisted that it had been posted by his social media team without his knowledge.

In an apology statement posted on Twitter, Parow said:

“I would like to sincerely apologise for yesterday’s post on social media. My social media manager created and posted a meme that is very offensive and it being the silly season and my manager being on leave I personally did not have the time to look at it properly before it was posted.

“My management is busy dealing with the social team accordingly. This does not mean to say that I am trying to shift blame. I take full responsibility for it and I am truly, truly sorry. I do not condone hate speech or homophobic slurs in any way and it truly makes me sad that it now looks like that.

“I have many friends and family in the gay community and I completely understand the struggles they have gone through. I truly am deeply, deeply sorry en jammer as ek a poes was,” Parow said.

A number of his fans didn’t see what the fuss was all about. One commented that people should stop being “so sensitive” while another argued that the meme was just “satire”. Others weren’t buying it, telling Parow to stop shifting the blame and to show proper accountability.

“Why not show that you mean this?” asked Bradulting. “Get behind a LGBTQ movement? Openly support them? Engage with those communities? Make a stand and use this as a platform to SHOW the values you hold! Lastly, take ownership of this mistake you have made. Don’t share the blame. Be accountable!”

The offensive meme was posted with the comment, “Fokkit. This needs no caption.” It featured a picture of the Jonas Brothers accompanied by the description, “Mofiie” (an Afrikaans slur for gay). Below that, there was a photo of bottles of Parow’s brandy next to the text, “Die Manne” (“the men” in Afrikaans).

The post was soon after deleted but as screengrabs were shared online Parow was called out for his casual homophobia and for perpetuating toxic masculine stereotypes.

It’s not the first time the performer has been accused of homophobia. In 2016, Parow came under fire for suggesting that gay people aren’t very good at sport.

Along with a video that appeared to show an Australian cricketer groping a teammate as they stood listening to the national anthem, he tweeted that Australia had lost the one-day series to South Africa because “one of their players was batting for the other team…”

Parow launched his Parow Brandy in 2017, stating that he had “made a brandy for everyone.”

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