Legal expert warns of penalties following actor's online 'racist' rant

Legal expert warns of penalties following actor's online 'racist' rant

A South African actor has apologised for a post shared on social media following the violent Moses Mabhida Stadium protests.

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Rajesh Gopie sparked outrage on Facebook when he referred to Kaizer Chiefs supporters as 'baboons'. 

The post read: 'Yah, and the Baboons like soccer too much so they want to play with human heads.'

He's since posted an apology for his remarks - saying he uses the term when describing any violent football fans including those from Europe. 

Gopie said he is not racist and would never intentionally hurt another person's feelings. 

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Social media law expert, Verlie Oosthuizen has again warned people to be careful when commenting on social media. 

She says people must not assume they will get away with racist or defamatory remarks made in the public domain.

"People have to realise that putting these kinds of views on social media - is completely unacceptable. As soon as something is screengrabbed - then it's evidence that it was up there in the first place. 

"Evidence of that can be taken to the Equality Court and the South African Human Rights Commission. We are starting to realise that it's not the safest thing to spend all of your time on Facebook or on any other social media platform," she said.  

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