SA women's conference hits back at Taraji P Henson: 'There was a deposit & a contract'

The organisers of the International Women in Media conference, 21st Century Group, have hit back at Hollywood actress Taraji P Henson and her claims that she knew nothing about the conference set to be held in Joburg next month, calling her comments on social media "disappointing."

Taraji caused a Twitter storm after she retweeted images of her face on posters advertising the conference calling it "fake news" and asking her fans to "get their money back." She responded to fans who questioned whether she perhaps didn't know about the event, to which she replied her team wouldn't say yes to anything without her approval.

Bonang Matheba, who was set to host the event, then issued a statement saying she would be withdrawing because of the confusion around Taraji and her participation.

While 21st Century Group said it would only release a statement on Monday, a response was provided to TshisaLIVE at 11:35pm on Wednesday night. The organisers claim a deposit, contract and written confirmation was received by team Taraji.

"We would like to place on record that prior arrangements were made with Ms. Henson’s Agents Superstar Agency whereby a contract was concluded between 21st Century Group and the latter, only upon confirmation of Ms. Henson’s attendance at the event."

"It was our reasonable expectation, as is the normal protocol in these situations,that the agency had been liaising with Ms. Henson’s Manager. A deposit was also paid to Superstar Agency as a matter of enforcing and complying with the said contract on the part of 21st Century Group."

It also said no tickets had been sold and no tickets will be sold, as the event is by invitation only - this despite previous messages about tickets being on sale.