Maso Awards organisers have found themselves doing a clean-up act following the misplaced remarks made by one of the awardees Mahempe in live television and have stirred widespread condemnation.
The youthful content creator has caused an uproar following the insinuations he made on the red carpet during the night of the awards ceremony on Saturday in relation to the country’s President Peter Mutharika.
His utterances were immediately followed by a public statement by the broadcasters of the event, Kanema Online who quickly distanced themselves from his remarks and took down the video from their platform.
Reads the statement in part: “The views expressed were personal and do not represent Kanema Online. We do not promote castigation or offensive content. All videos containing the remarks have been taken down and we strongly discourage the public from forwarding or duplicating the content.”
Mahempe himself later issued an apology through a video shared online.
| Courtesy of Maso Awards
In the video, he accepted wrong-doing and extended his apologies to President Mutharika and all stakeholders involved in the organisation of the event.
“I am very sorry. At the moment I was very excited. I apologise to all of you who have watched that video clip. I made an error and I accept that I made a mistake. Please forgive me. My actions were disturbing,” said Mahempe.
On Monday evening, Maso Awards organisers also moved in to quell the situation by issuing their own statement which described the statements as disrespectful and inappropriate. The organisers have condemned Mahempe for his remarks.
The organising committee said the remarks do not reflect their values, principles or the spirit of respect that the Maso Awards stands for.
Reads the statement in part: “Going forward, we will strengthen our policies, guidelines and criteria to ensure that all nominees and award recipients receive training on public conduct, communication and professionalism, particularly during red carpet appearances.
The committee said it explored the idea of revoking the award, but they reserved the decision following his public apology, considering his age and that winners of the awards are recognised through public voting based on their artistic excellence.
“The option we have taken involves offering the individual psychosocial support, mentorship and talent development programmes aimed at nurturing his character and artistic potential,” said the statement.
Speaking in a separate interview yesterday, Mikozi Online lead Bright ‘Excess’ Chiligo said Mahempe’s over-excitement can be understood because it was his first time to be under the spotlight. He said his management was supposed to prepare him well in advance for moments such as that.
He said: “Looking at the clips he has done before, it seems he is a joker. More or less like a natural comedian. But some jokes need control. Some are very offensive. It was the duty of the manager to set limits and control him.”
Mahempe won the Best Content Creator Award
