Correction: The Daily Vox has issued an apology to Renaldo Gouws. You can read it here.
Well-known South African YouTubers Renaldo Gouws and Sibu Mpanza had a pretty intense Twitter feud this week. Gouws apparently sub-tweeted Mpanza in a video, calling him a fame chaser and a liar, among other things. Mpanza took offence and called Gouws out on Twitter. Gouws claims the video was not about Mpanza and was touched at being called a “salty white maleâ€. And so the feud began.
So, here’s the lowdown. There’s Renaldo Gouws: mediocre white YouTube vlogger with 30 000-odd subscribers and also a DA councillor in PE. Gouws is one of the top 100 YouTubers in South Africa in terms of subscribers, comments, likes and watch time.
Then there’s Sibu Mpanza: a lesser-known YouTube vlogger with under 4 000 subscribers; young, black, vocal and doing the things. Despite Gouws being a higher ranking vlogger, he isn’t endorsed by any brands whereas Mpanza is working with Takealot and Standard Bank. He also previously worked with Jameson. Shame, neh?
Social media marketer, Aasia Fredericks, told The Daily Vox that brands assess the content vloggers produce, the markets they appeal to as well as the level of interaction their videos garner. Fredericks said preference is given to young, black South Africans because most brands are aiming at a young black target market. If that’s not your audience, you lose out.
On Monday, Gouws made a video titled “Being a South African YouTuber…†where, among other things, he threw shade on smaller South African vloggers who claim to have quit their jobs and studies because they are “rolling in the doughâ€. He said small SA vloggers are blatantly lying about how much they earn, “when in actual fact they can’t even afford to buy Oros at the end of the month†– which is low-key racist by the way.
Gouws claims they are wannabe celebrities who are “pretentious†and would “say or do anything†to be famous. As a “top YouTuberâ€, Gouws claims to know the realities of vlogging in South Africa where it is impossible to make a living solely off YouTube and just wishes “these fame-chasers with 4 000 subscribers or less in South Africa would also realise thatâ€. For Gouws, it is disingenuous to claim otherwise because it creates a false sense of security among local vloggers.
It was obvious for Mpanza and everyone else that Gouws had just subtweeted him.
He basically named me.
3 to 4k subscribers.
1K views per video.
Dropped out of varsity.
Making money. https://t.co/cGhp0k68iq— Mpanza (@Sibu_MpanzaSA) April 4, 2017
That’s when things got lit.
Mpanza tweeted about the ‘salty white male’ who subbed him in a video.
Here’s the the video of a rather salty white male subbing me in a YouTube video for making money on YT. 😊
WARNING, you might fall asleep 💛 https://t.co/o5kgLHXUZ9
— Mpanza (@Sibu_MpanzaSA) April 4, 2017
And the Twitterverse responded. Mpanza’s followers and subscribers jumped to his defence, calling Gouws out on his white male privilege.
I felt worms running up my spine. All the things wrong w/ entitled white males. https://t.co/8FfRvULhw1
— Quem quaeritis? (@BanNgidi) April 4, 2017
He gets waaaay more views than me. He’s mad that it doesn’t mean he gets paid for it. https://t.co/6izQcuJd9N
— Mpanza (@Sibu_MpanzaSA) April 4, 2017
This bro really TRIED it taking a swipe at @Sibu_MpanzaSA.
WHY do you suppose we care? Work bbz, run your own race, stop crying. pic.twitter.com/N0lmdXhcFK— Binwinning 🖤 (@BinweA) April 4, 2017
When you’re swimming in white privelege but don’t know how to use it. pic.twitter.com/h3mAqkzBp7
— Mpanza (@Sibu_MpanzaSA) April 4, 2017
Gouws defended himself, sticking to his original position that he just made a video to support up-and-coming vloggers.
Shame, this guy actually thinks the video was about him. When I called him out he blocked me. Sub hunting… But hey, if the shoe fits… pic.twitter.com/cO5c0lFmTK
— Renaldo Gouws (@RenaldoGouws) April 4, 2017
As with most twars, we can never be sure who blocked who first.
But then Gouws took it to a whole new level. He tweeted Mpanza’s sponsors asking if they want to be associated with someone who has a problem with white people.
Clearly this guy has a problem with white people. Just look at his tweets. Classy new ambassador you have in Sibu Mphanza, @JamesonSA. pic.twitter.com/eZ3fOZ2vXT
— Renaldo Gouws (@RenaldoGouws) April 4, 2017
Jameson denied that Mpanza was their brand ambassador, and said Mpanza only worked with them once-off.
@Ongetiteld @RenaldoGouws Jameson does not stand for any form of discrimination. Sibu is not a Jameson brand ambassador & does not speak on behalf of the brand.
— Jameson South Africa (@JamesonSA) April 4, 2017
Of course, Gouws rode on that one saying that Mpanza is a liar who faked being Jameson’s brand ambassador.
Just for the record, You know, because all the hate was aimed at me. He lied to you all. He was never a Brand Ambassador #WeStandWithSibu pic.twitter.com/CIhKD2Ri4z
— Renaldo Gouws (@RenaldoGouws) April 5, 2017
Takealot responded to Gouws saying that Mpanza’s views are his own and that they do not support any form of racial discrimination.
@RenaldoGouws Sibu joined us on a recent campaign.Any views he expresses are his own.He doesn’t speak for us & we don’t support any form of discrimination
— takealot (@TAKEALOT) April 5, 2017
Mpanza responded that he has always been vocal about race and class; surely his sponsors knew who they were getting involved with when they decided to work with him?
Dude. Stop. You’re embarrassing yourself.
All brands know how I tweet, instagram, create any content. There are no surprises here. https://t.co/PZTOgLuhlG
— Mpanza (@Sibu_MpanzaSA) April 4, 2017
Fredericks said she looked into the social media spat and it didn’t implicate Mpanza in any way because all he did was speak about “a white boy that doesn’t know how to use his privilege.” It would be different if he tweeted a picture with an disreputable person who was publicly known as discriminatory.
Now whether Mpanza was subbed or not, there’s an issue here. A white male vlogger, encased in his privilege, is publicly destroying the image of a smaller black vlogger. Twarring with, shading and dragging each other is one thing, but when you alert the sponsors and brand ambassadors of another vlogger, you’re interfering with their bread.
For Gouws, YouTube is all fun and games: he said it himself – he gives his YouTube money to charity. Hey, he has his white privilege and a job as a DA councillor to fall back on. It’s all good. But, and he mentioned in his video, other vloggers rely on YouTube for their livelihoods. (Vloggers, like, say Sibu Mpanza?) If Gouws is as concerned with the growth of young SA vloggers, as he claims to be, why is he trying to drag Mpanza – who he himself says is a small vlogger – through the mud?