It's no laughing matter

Popular comedian Eugene Khoza abruptly pulled out of this week's Comedy and Music Extravaganza at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

He was to appear alongside Siv Ngesi on Tuesday and yesterday.

It has been speculated that Khoza ditched the programme at a few hours' notice because he dislikes Ngesi - but Ngesi scoffed at this suggestion.

"H e's known he's going to perform with me for months now, so if he wanted to pull out because of me, he would have done so a little while ago," Ngesi said yesterday.

"We spoke about it and it had something to do with management and his branding."

Last night, Donovan Goliath and Sifiso Nene appeared with Ngesi.

Khoza has only commented on the matter through Twitter. He first tweeted: "Oh wow, now I'm being sued."

Later, he tweeted : "I refuse to have my name/brand be exploited by anyone & just because I'm opposing it now I'm being threatened with a lawsuit."

The Market Theatre's marketing manager, Nivasha Hardev, refused to confirm whether it would sue the comic.

"The Market Theatre is still investigating the cause of Eugene cancelling his shows," she said.

"We can't confirm this at this point [whether there is an impending lawsuit] - the issues are broader than the Market Theatre and we are looking at it from all angles to be fair to Eugene.

"He is a respected artist and we will do everything to get to the bottom of this and, hopefully, resolve the situation amicably."