Nota’s outrageous comment on Mihlali Ndamase highlights pervading misogyny in local podcasting space
Almost every year we have the same conversation around comedy. "Sometimes good art should make us uncomfortable".
"Sometimes bad people can make good art".
Late last year, many cited these or similar quotes in defence of Dave Chappelle when he stirred controversy with his transphobic and sexist jokes during the last comedy special of his long-running Netflix deal.
Nowadays, Nota Baloyi has become somewhat of a comedian. A comedian not by choice or profession but because his antics on social media are often comical.
And even when he's apparently making serious observations, you can't help but chuckle.
His latest act of comedy was far from humorous though. In May, Nota joined the Nkululeko n Cultr podcast for a discussion around a range of entertainment topics.
In typically inelegant fashion, Nota used this as an opportunity to slut-shame blogger and content creator Mihlali Ndamase.
“The women celebrities in this country, most of them are sex workers," he started.
"If they have to sleep with producers… if you see someone that's ahead and they're getting whatever, who are they sleeping with at Multichoice?"
That was his opening remark. In a clip that's gone viral this past week, Nota later on in the interview went on to add: "Imagine there are some guys who think Mihlali is attractive, and all I think is that ngiyamtenga (I can buy her).
“And they don’t understand that if Mihlali is for sale that means she’s an object. Which means you can kill her if you want to. It’s like buying a dog, you can put it down.”
This was such an egregious statement that the notoriously private Berita, who at that point we understood to be his wife, took to Twitter to call him out.
In doing so, she also dropped the bombshell that they had split.
"Morning tweeps. I was off Twitter for a couple of days. I only became aware of the statements made by Nhlamulo “Nota” last night. I would like to first of all clear the air by being transparent to you all.
“I have been quiet because there is families involved in this situation. I am no longer married to Nhlamulo “Nota” Baloyi. I left our marital home on Thursday the 13 of January 2022."
She went on to add that she had been quiet because her safety had been a "huge concern" for her, before going on to describe him as "extremely irresponsible, reckless and unruly".
It's always the most unruly ones that cast the first stone.
"He simply does not listen to anyone," she added. "I cannot even begin to count the numerous times he has erred in his speech."
Seemingly as a subliminal response, Nota later Tweeted, "They say a man will embarrass you, a woman will humiliate you. There’s a difference in how a man responds to humiliation as opposed to how a woman responds to embarrassment, that tells you everything you need to know about dignity.
“No matter what happens between you, keep it tidy!"
It was an unsurprisingly tone deaf statement from a man who's quickly establishing a reputation as an out of touch personality social media commentator.
A day prior to Berita's statement, Nota had been a speaker in one of Musa Khawula's Twitter Spaces when someone allied to SA Polling gave him a bit of his own medicine.
"These people are past you, they’re better than you," SA Polling said, referring to Mihlali and the other celebrities Nota has insulted in the past.
"Whether they sleep with whoever — they can even sleep with your dad – but they’ve surpassed you.”
When Nota tried to speak over him, SA Polling responded, “I don’t know who you think you’re going to talk over, I’m not your wife, you better wait until I’m done speaking.”
This outburst was well-received, driving the anonymous SA Polling to the top of the Twitter trends list. For once someone had given Nota as good as he got.
Even YouTube troll Slik Talk upbraided him, stating, “You can’t talk about people’s wives and people’s girlfriends and then when they talk about your wife you get upset.
“It doesn’t work like that. See me, people can talk about my mother, my father, my brothers and sisters, my kids, I don’t care because I know I deserve it."
While Slik Talk made a valid point, that doesn't excuse his own misogynistic commentary.
The foul-mouthed vlogger has over the past year grown his following by speaking down to women.
Much like MacG, for whom he's unsurprisingly expressed support and admiration for on several occasions, he often chooses to use vile and disrespectful language when discussing women.
"Uncle Waffles, you are Drake's African fantasy, that's what you are," he said a few months ago.
"This man is only looking for one thing and one thing only. Drake is trying to smash, that's it… I listened to your EP, ‘Red Dragon’, it was subpar. Uncle Waffles can dance and she's a great performer, but she's a talentless DJ."
It's a page starlight out of the MacG playbook.
For much of the past year, Nota has delivered countless moments of incoherent and mind-numbing commentary on a host of entertainment and lifestyle topics as he seemingly shifts into a role as a pop culture commentator.
For a man of his intelligence and calibre in the entertainment industry (Nota's work managing Kwesta and helping him become one of the country's biggest artists is beyond reproach), I've not spotted much nuance in his commentary.
If there's brilliance in Nota, Slik Talk and MacG’s work, I must be missing it.