US ad spoof irks Black Mambazo

LADYSMITH Black Mambazo sort of made it to one of the US's favourite late-night TV shows - and they are not amused.

The performance might have resembled one by the a cappella group, but it was not. What really irked the South African singers, who recently won another Grammy award, was that the Americans were taking the mickey.

It happened on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a show that airs on NBC in the US.

The act looked like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, sounded a lot like them, but they turned out to be Ladysmith Snack Mambazo.

And the lyrics were an advertisement for potato chips that come in a container "that looks like it holds tennis balls", according to the TV skit.

It was not funny, said the group's manager, Mitch Goldstein. They crossed a line, said South African comedian David Kau.

And Ladysmith Black Mambazo's fans were even more outraged.

"What a disgrace to do that to you all. You deserve much more respect. He's just an ignorant..," wrote Dena Jensen Uzunkaya on Facebook.

"You guys are top class. He's a jerk," she said, clearly referring to Fallon.

Tiebo Muratha, responding to a previous claim on the show's Facebook page that it had permission from the South African group, said: "What kind of mindset is that? So very shameful. You are very important and very well known all over the world. The fact is he is getting paid for your sweat. Highway robbery."

The show's producers have now deleted the Facebook claim that they had permission from Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Fallon and his crew used the Ladysmith Snack Mambazo parody for a number of commercials and the clips were reposted on YouTube. The latest one has had 87000 hits on the website.

In these, just like the real thing, Fallon and his crew are dressed in black trousers, white takkies and African-print kaftan shirts for the adverts that are run as part of the show.

"We were not happy when they started doing these adverts because they are getting paid for this," said Goldstein.

Kau, after watching one of the videos, said he was all for comedians making fun of people, but they needed to "draw the line" especially when the person being mocked did not like it.

"The skits would be funnier if Jimmy had involved Ladysmith Black Mambazo, or better yet, if he could tell the joke with the group present on his show, especially because he is mimicking people that have achieved so much," said Kau.

Goldstein said the practice was not illegal, and although he and the group were not happy about it, "it's not in our way to keep a grudge going".

Another South African comedian, Trevor Gumbi, said he had found the clip funny at first.

However, once he had realised that the group was unhappy about it, it had lost its appeal.

He said that he had to apologise once to musician Mandoza about a recurring joke he had used in one of his live sets.

"He expressed that the jokes were harmful towards him as a person and jokes were only funny when the person you joke about also laughs along," said Gumbi.

mbeleg@sundaytimes.co.za