Social media influencer and musician Lindokuhle “Lin Dough” Sithole says he didn't intend to cause any harm when he posted a video of himself and his son Valdo discussing the importance of hygiene to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
In the video, Lin Dough can be seen discussing the virus with his son and sharing tips about staying safe. The pair speak in a foreign language with subtitles displayed on the screen.
The video went viral this week after it was shared by sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa's spokesperson, Masechaba Ndlovu, on Twitter. She later deleted the tweet from her page.
The father and son were slammed for their “fake Chinese” accents in the video and were accused by some of being “racist”.
Attempts to contact Lin Dough for comment were unsuccessful at the time of publishing this article.
This story will be updated once comment has been received.
However, in a Twitter post, Lin Dough apologised for any offence the video may have caused. He said he and his son had done similar videos in the past in which they imitated other people's accents.
“We didn’t mean any harm and it’s not a paid campaign. It was genuinely a joke. I’ve been posting videos with my son speaking our broken Chinese or Portuguese. I’m really sorry.”
He also defended Masechaba, saying her intentions were noble.
“Hands off Masechaba Ndlovu. Her intentions were noble. Let's focus on the message,” he said.
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