South African hip-hop duo Die Antwoord are no strangers to celebrity beefs. ho can forget their feud with Lady Gaga? hey killed her off in a music video, prompting her to respond "i fink u freaky but you don't have a hit?" But now Ninja and Yolandi Visser are being accused of a homophobic attack after a scuffle with Andy Butler, the queer DJ behind Hercules and Love Affair.
In a YouTube video published by former Die Antwoord videographer Ben Crossman, Ninja is seen spitting in Butler's face at the 2012 Future Music Festival in Adelaide, Australia. Butler retaliates by throwing a drink and the two end up tussling off-camera. Visser can be heard in the background saying: "f****ts are fighting, this is so cute" and "look at the f****t... run f****t run... run for your life, bitch" when Butler attempts to leave.
The 11-minute video then follows Ninja and Visser as they track down festival security and claim Butler assaulted her. Ninja also uses racial slurs several times.
After the video surfaced online, Die Antwoord immediately began to lose festival bookings. Ninja responded to the controversy by claiming on Facebook that Crossman had "cleverly edited this video clip to make it seem like me and Yolandi committed a hate crime towards a person because they are gay." He says Crossman took part in the beating as well and that Butler's sexuality had nothing to do with the fight.
"This was just a fight with someone who fucked with us," he said. "Not a hate crime."
Visser then listed the band's various gay friends -- works every time! -- and doubled down on the claim that Butler had harassed him. Butler has yet to make a statement.
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