Axed Idols judge Gareth Cliff suffered "one of the worst forms of discrimination" because he is white, his advocate, Dali Mpofu SC, told the Johannesburg High Court yesterday. Cliff wants the court to order M-Net to reinstate him as an Idols judge or pay him R25-million in damages for defamation and for terminating his contract.M-Net fired Cliff from the reality talent show earlier this month after a public outcry over a remark he posted on social network Twitter. In the wake of the Penny Sparrow racism row, Cliff tweeted that "people don't understand free speech at all".Mpofu contended that Cliff was discriminated against by "historically white supremacists" (M-Net) because he is white.Had one of the other Idols SA judges, Unathi Msengana or Somizi Mhlongo, sent the same tweethe or she would not have been fired, Mpofu said.Msengana and Mhlongo have both been lambasted by the public in the past for "offensive" messages on social media."If you retain Msengana and Mhlongo, then retain Cliff," Mpofu said.He said M-Net could not fire Cliff for exercising his freedom of expression."Freedom of expression is nothing but a right to offend. It is meant for offensive statement."He said M-Net had hired Cliff because he was a controversial figure.Mpofu said the case was not about whether Cliff was a racist but about the enforcement of contractual rights.He said there was a contract between Cliff and M-Net to the effect that he would appear as a judge on the next Idols SA season and, by terminating the contract, M-Net had violated Cliff's constitutional rights.Mpofu led the court through a series of e-mails exchanged between Cliff and M-Net last month in which M-Net told Cliff that his contract to be a judge on the next season of Idols SA would be sent to him once it was to hand.The e-mails mentioned the dates of this year's auditions for the show and promised Cliff a 6% pay increase to R377 530.But advocate Wim Trengove, on behalf of M-Net, said that there was no contract between M-Net and Cliff. He said there was correspondence indicating that a contract was being considered but this changed after the tweet and the reaction to it.Trengove said that the public perception that Cliff is a racist was enough to justify M-Net saying it did not want him to represent it."It's untenable to [ask to be reinstated]. He [Cliff] defended hate speech of a grievous kind."M-Net say they do not want somebody who defended Penny Sparrow," Trengove argued.Judge Caroline Nicholls reserved judgment and said she would deliver her ruling by 10am on Friday.The first auditions for Idols SA are scheduled for Durban on Saturday...