Gareth Cliff, the Idols judge that just wouldn’t go away.

Now we told you yesterday about how market research had shown Gareth’s personal brand was poison (M-Net’s word, check HERE), and that toxicity is set to continue as he faces off with them today in court.

So what does Cliff have to say for himself on social media? No he didn’t take a pot shot at Fikile Mbalula, they seem to be at peace with each other for now, but he did send out this tweet:

So brave Gareth, so brave.

For those who haven’t been following this one here’s a brief run down from Channel24:

In his court papers, Cliff described M-Net’s axing of him as a “knee-jerk” response and said that he found the decision to fire him “peculiar” given the fact that two other judges has also been involved in a public race debate.

“The response by the first respondent [M-Net] in axing me was quite peculiar not only because of its inconsistency with how other judges had been dealt with, but also because M-Net itself had for many years been able to withstand criticism of racism and, more recently, gender discrimination due to either the low number of black winners and/or the total absence to date of a female winner.”

Although initially missing a deadline to respond to Cliff’s urgent application, M-Net hit back hard, saying that market research conducted showed that he was “poison” for the M-Net and Idols brand.

“If M-Net had permitted the 2016 season of Idols to continue with Gareth Cliff as judge and and the threats and calls for a boycott had grown, it would have become even more problematic to address the situation at a later stage and the damage to the Idols and M-Net brands would already have occurred,” said M-Net ceo, Yolisa Phahle in responding court papers.

The heavyweights will slug it out in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. Cliff is asking a judge that he be reinstated. Should the judge not rule in his favour, a second part of his application is that the Idols‘ auditions are halted pending a R25m lawsuit.

Halt the entire season, affecting everyone who works on the show and all the contestants who have already made travel arrangements, just so you can sit behind a desk and hand out golden tickets to an ever thinning talent pool? Selfish old boy, selfish.

Something tells me M-Net have more firepower at their disposal than Gareth – I wouldn’t be surprised if they bleed him dry and take him for costs while they’re at it.

[source:channel24]