Kaunda Selisho

By Kaunda Selisho

Journalist


MacG, Sol Phenduka trending for the wrong reasons after ‘transphobic’ comments

MacG was recently announced as part of a list of creators from across the African continent who were chosen as part of YouTube's inaugural class of African content creators.


Members of the LGBTIQ+ community have taken offence with YouTube creator and DJ MacGyver “MacG” Mukwevho after the Podcast and Chill host and his co-host, Sol Phenduka, reportedly made transphobic comments on their show.

The comments were first brought to people’s attention when MacG tweeted a teaser clip of the episode, along with the caption: “This part killed me @Solphendukaa. Man United fans are coming for you.”

In the clip, MacG reveals that former Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney once had a romantic encounter with a trans woman, to which Phenduka replies “that’s where he gets his ball control from” and the two burst into laughter.

“He’s laying on a man’s chest, Manchester,” adds Phenduka.

Cultural curator, DJ and writer Lelo Meslani was among the first to take MacG to task over the comments.

This was quickly followed by an influx of tweets from trans people and other members of the LGBTIQ+ community.

YouTube Black Voices

MacG was recently announced as part of a list of creators from across the African continent who were chosen as part of YouTube’s inaugural class of African content creators who were set to receive a grant for the development of their channels from the global YouTube Black Voices Fund.

The creators are also scheduled to take part in an intensive three-week incubator programme followed by bespoke training, workshops and networking programmes.

Additionally, MacG has recently worked with Old Mutual to create sponsored content for one of the campaigns the insurer was running,

As such, there were calls for MacG to be deplatformed and many have distributed the details of companies MacG is linked to, along with a request for these companies to cut ties with the content creator.

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