AKA’s boss Raphael Benza has released an official statement condemning Black Coffee’s violent actions towards his employee Tshiamo Letshwene, check it out:
The Vth Season confirms that one of our employees, Tshiamo Letshwene, who serves as a Road Manager, was involved in an altercation with Black Coffee this past weekend at the DSTV iRock Festival in Limpopo whilst Road Managing AKA and his band.
We are very surprised and disappointed to hear of the violent reaction by Black Coffee towards Tshiamo which was unexpected and unwarranted. Tshiamo is more shocked than injured. We admire and hold Black Coffee in high regard but his actions on Saturday night have let us down especially for Tshiamo who is a fan and considers Black Coffee a role model.
AKA was not late for his performance at the DSTV iRock Festival in Limpopo as media and event goers have reported. As an Agency, it is very important for us to be professional at all times with all our stakeholders. Three weeks ago we requested a performance time change for AKA to which the event organisers agreed and confirmed. We wanted to ensure that there was enough travel time for AKA and his band as they had another event prior to the DSTV iRock Festival and a private jet was chartered to ensure they got to Limpopo at the quickest possible time.
It is unheard of and highly unprofessional for an artist to have squabbles with another artist or his team members about performance line up details. Disputes should be addressed directly with the event organisers to which they would have been able to confirm to Black Coffee that they advised AKA’s band to set up at that particular time. AKA and his band were willing to wait to perform after Black Coffee’s set but were instructed to go on as planned. We cannot attest to whether or not Black Coffee was informed prior to Saturday night about the changes with his timeslot, but he had no business arguing with and then slapping Tshiamo.
For an artist that has been in the music industry for the amount of years that Black Coffee has, his actions on Saturday night don’t speak to the brand magnitude of what we know Black Coffee to be. His actions were ignorant, distasteful and not of someone level headed or mature. We applaud Tshiamo for keeping his cool and being professional throughout the altercation especially seeing that the anger and violence was misplaced.
“It’s completely unacceptable for Black Coffee to have hit someone. We thought he was a gentleman and a professional. I’m sure he has something to say about his despicable and inexcusable action but in the meantime we anticipate an apology from Black Coffee to the young man” expresses Benza, Managing Director, Vth Season Talent and Entertainment Marketing Agency.
Source: zkhiphani