YouTuber Willem Petzer yesterday cynically created and published a video designed to misrepresent The Citizen online news editor, Daniel Friedman, who started working with us earlier this year.

Here is that video:

I apologise profusely that we even need to talk about Petzer’s latest piece of claptrap, but sadly we can’t ignore it. I also don’t want to be the only one whose public holiday is being ruined by this brat.

So bear with me here.

Daniel’s alter ego happens to be the musical comedian Deep Fried Man, and you may know him from seeing him perform live or on TV, most memorably when he appeared every week on the show Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola on eNCA a few years ago.

Petzer doesn’t like Daniel or The Citizen because of a story this website ran about him at the end of September exposing him for being the host of a Discord chat room in which nauseatingly racist content was being shared and discussed.

Petzer denies he was part of it, but the evidence strongly suggested otherwise. We are still awaiting a ruling from the Press Ombudsman on Petzer’s complaint about that article.

At the time we ran the article, what particularly irked us about the leaked private discussions in the chat group was the advice its participants were giving each other on how to create fake social media accounts purporting to be of black people.

I’ve written about this phenomenon before, and it’s sickening. (Here and here are just two examples). The fake accounts either say things a white person would love a real black person to say (but they generally don’t) or they pretend to say highly racist things against white people to create outrage.

There’s enough real racism around from all sides, though, without having to fabricate more of it, and anyone who is guilty of it deserves to be run out of town.

Petzer decided to spend this weekend cherry-picking clips from a song Deep Fried Man wrote and first performed six years ago to make it seem that Daniel thinks farm murders are funny. Daniel was actually mostly poking fun at white people from the suburbs who shop at “Woolies”, want “Mavis” to make them tea and genuinely believed in 2013 there would be a white genocide the day after Nelson Mandela died.

Deep Fried Man recorded the video below more than three years ago. Note that it does have some hectic themes and one verse of strong language.

But please, do take a look for yourself:

Petzer has obviously lied about what the song is about.

It’s possible he doesn’t understand what Daniel was trying to say with this song. Petzer doesn’t give huge confidence that basic comprehension is one of his strong points, but he probably quite knowingly twisted the truth to suit the lie he wants to tell.

That’s my take on it, at least, and I’ve called him out for being a liar before.

ALSO READ: Dear Willem Petzer, this is why we didn’t ask you about that racist Discord chat

Petzer claims the song is about farm murders (it isn’t) and he creates the false impression that it’s a more recent clip. At one point he even claims Daniel is mocking farm murders “in the wake of Andile Mngxitama calling for the murder of all white people”.

Willem, Boet, allow me to explain to you how the concept of time works: Things that were first said six years ago cannot be said “in the wake of” things that happened last week.

Daniel never made fun of farm murders. If he had, it would be a problem, and all the Petzer-generated outrage against him now would be justified.

Keep in mind that Daniel is Jewish, so probably has a fair idea of what a real genocide is. We are entitled to love or hate Deep Fried Man’s satire, but at least criticise it for what it is.

In his own words, Daniel wrote today on his social media pages: “I stand by the video, which satirises white South African fears of genocide, a word which most rational people realise is a ridiculous way to characterise farm murders – a very real and shocking crime which has been politicised and divorced from the other horrific forms of crime that all South Africans face daily by people with an agenda.

“Petzer is spreading the lie that I hate ‘Boers’ in this video. Watch my video and draw your own conclusions.

“I do not hate farmers and I certainly do not hate Afrikaner people. The idea that the far-right, divisive voices in our country represent or speak for all Afrikaner people is one which, judging by the interactions I’ve had with many awesome Afrikaner South Africans, is just not true.

“And just for background, Willem Petzer is p***ed off with me for an article I wrote as a journalist exposing the disgusting things he and his friends post in their private racist chat groups.

“My politics has always been consistent. I will never support the lie that there is a white genocide in SA, and if that makes you angry you are not welcome on this page. I will block the trolls one by one.”

So, to wrap up for the Willem Petzers of this world, for whom satire may be a bit hard to grasp, or others who still haven’t listened to the original song, here are the facts:

Deep Fried Man’s song White Genocide was written several years ago to lampoon people who feared there would be a war against white people as soon as Nelson Mandela died. Those people, history has now borne out, were idiots.

At no point does Daniel make fun of farmers in particular, or even mention farm murders or farm attacks.

Daniel is as appalled at crime in South Africa as every one of us either is or should be.

Daniel has been critical of almost all groups in South Africa as a journalist. Several diverse groups and individuals have come in for stick from him when deserved, or when he thinks it’s deserved. He doesn’t just target AfriForum or Afrikaner groups in particular. I happen to know that Black First Land First also hates him with a passion.

Deep Fried Man has poked fun at just about everyone. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires. But that is the job of a satirist, and comedy is hard to do (I wouldn’t have the guts to try it).

What Petzer has done is pathetic and a desperate cry for attention in the hope he can get other people to hate Daniel as much as he does.

So, Boeta, jou ellendige ding, los nou die blerrie YouTube uit en kry vir jou ‘n beter hobby voordat jy jou naam nog MEER gat maak.

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