Steve Hofmeyr on anti-LGBTQIA+ remarks: 'I regret the hurt caused'

Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr is facing the music following controversial remarks he made about the LGBTQIA+ community. 

The 'Agter Elke Man' hitmaker took to Facebook at the weekend to apologise to the queer community for the "hurt and offence caused" by the homophonic comments he made in 2022. 

Hofmeyr caused outrage last year when he implied that the "+" in LGBTQIA+ is linked to bestiality. 

"While my generation learned to speak to mice, ducks and dogs, our children will be taught how to have sex with mice, ducks and dogs," he said in a since-deleted post. 

The singer added: "You think it’s weird, but let me tell you why I’m saying this. Those relationships with animals are part of that ‘+’ at the end of the LGBTQ - that includes those kinds of relationships with animals."

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The 58-year-old was reacting to comments made by Disney's corporate president, Karey Burke, in March last year.  Burke said she would like to make Disney more inclusive by including more leads from racial minorities and the LGBTQIA+ community. 

"We have many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories and yet we don’t have enough leads and narratives in which gay characters just get to be characters and not have to be about gay stories," she said in an interview. 

Hofmeyr - like many conservatives - was not impressed by Burke's comments and implied that Disney was grooming children to have sex with animals. 

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SAHRC steps in over Steve Hofmeyr LGBTQIA+ remarks

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in the Eastern Cape took Hofmeyr to the equality court over his remarks. 

The commission said the singer's comments "may seriously demean and humiliate members of the LGBTIQ+ community, thereby affecting their rights to equality and dignity as determined in section 9 and 10 of the Constitution". 

Fast forward to 2023 and Hofmeyr has since reached a settlement with the SAHRC.

"During the past 11 months, a lot was said and Equality Court proceedings followed about a video I posted on my Facebook-profile in which amongst others, I criticised a policy decision by the international media company, Walt Disney Incorporated, for the latter's decision to attribute sexual identities to their movie characters," he wrote on Facebook. 

Hofmeyr added that his comments caused "a lot of upset in many circles". 

"I acknowledge that the comments, that led to the Equality Court proceedings, were hurtful to members of the LGBTQ+ community.  I regret the hurt and offence caused as a result of the comments and apologise unconditionally to members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as any other member of public that was offended by my comments.

"My attorney informed me that the complaint laid by the South African Human Rights Commission and OUT LGBT-Well-being was accordingly settled and our settlement will be made an order of the Equality Court..."

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The SAHRC has confirmed the settlement. 

"The settlement agreement will be made order of court tomorrow in Gqeberha," it said.

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Main image credit: Facebook/Steve Hofmeyr

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