Johannesburg: The South African who provided bogus sign language for Nelson Mandela’s memorial last year has been hired to feature in a new advertising campaign for a live-streaming app.
Thamsanqa Jantjie, who sparked outrage with his gibberish translation of eulogies — including those by US President Barack Obama and Mandela’s grandchildren — is now the face of a commercial for Livelens.
The commercial kicks off with him introducing himself: “Hi I’m Thamsanqa Jantjie from Nelson Mandela’s funeral.”
He then starts signing. “Believe me, I’m a real sign language interpreter, I speak signed language – not,” he signs to the backdrop of a female voiceover.
He then speaks in his own voice to apologise.
“I’m really, really sorry for what happened,” he says in the ad speaking from a podium.
Then he returns to sign language which is voiced over, saying “Me, famous celebrity!”
“Now I want to make up to the whole world. Now I do campaign for money.”
The company said on its Facebook page that it was surprised that the advert would generate much public interest.
“We never thought our video ad would gather so much interest from people,” it wrote, saying it did not mean to disrespect the deaf.
“It’s also ok to give people a second chance. Thamsanqa is mentally ill and admitted several times he made a mistake… Should he be banned for life?” it said.
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