Radio Africa Group has threatened to countersue former Homeboyz show host Shaffie Weru, who was fired last week.
The media house said it will sue Shaffie for breach of contract and negligence, thereby demanding Sh150 million in compensation for loss of business and reputational damage.
Shaffie was fired alongside his co-hosts DJ Joe Mfalme and Neville for making comments that appeared to victim-shame and justify sexual assault against women.
They made the said utterances live on air while discussing an incident where a 20-year-old woman was shoved from the 12th floor of a building in Nairobi CBD after rejecting sexual advances from her date.
Following his sacking, Shaffie demanded compensation of Sh21 million from Radio Africa for unfair and unlawful termination of his employment contract. He threatened to sue the company if it fails to meet his demands.
In response, Radio Africa and its subsidiary Homeboyz Radio said it will countersue Shaffie, accusing him of breaching company policies and his employment contract.
“His actions were unconscionable and amount to severe gross misconduct. He should have known better having been in the media industry for 18 years and receiving continuous training on media regulators’ programming codes, broadcasting regulations, and codes of conduct and ethics. Including a very recent training by the Media Council of Kenya in February 2021 which covered: Ethics and Code of Conduct, Fake news and Fact-checking, Interview skills, Conflict Sensitive Journalism, Hate Speech Dilemma in media, On-air presentation skills,” Radio Africa says.
Due to their comments, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) fined Radio Africa Sh1 million and suspended Homeboyz’s breakfast show for six months, saying the remarks violated programming regulations.
CA also ordered Homeboyz to publish a public apology in two newspapers with nationwide circulation and air the same apology on the station during prime time for five days.
The East African Breweries Limited (EABL) withdrew all its advertisements at Homeboyz over the remarks by Shaffie and his colleagues.
Shaffie, you are really…
Shaffie, you are really unwise…most of us have not heard what you said on air, but if indeed you said something that insinuates that what happened to that girl was okay, you should know better than run your mouth about suing for being fired. We now know how *tupid you are…..that this was not a slip….. Choose your battles wisely…now you are roast..
Phone number please sir…
Phone number please sir/madam I can forward it to you for free before you make any“judgment”.To me ata wa-counter sue,ata wajaze mifuko ya MBETE GANG,watamulipa Shalffie some millions of shillings.
What Shaffie is saying…
What Shaffie is saying amount to him not aknowledging that he and his cohorts did anything wrong.To me his forced apology is not genuine.
Yes he should have known better. Would he have acted same way if his sister was talked of like that?Even if he hated her?That’s the test of how you know if what you said is wrong.
18 years in the media,and the outcry from the “metoo” movement how could he claim that he was unfaily dismissed. Actually,even weighing this matter without all evidence it, Radio Africa is being generous to these ingrates.