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Steve Hofmeyr (born 29 August 1964) is a South African singer, songwriter, writer, actor and former TV presenter.


Personal life

Hofmeyr married actress Natasha Sutherland, whom he had met on the set of '' Egoli: Place of Gold'' in 1998. They had two sons. Hofmeyr also has two sons and two daughters by other women. The couple was divorced after reports of numerous affairs dominated Hofmeyr's time in the spotlight in 2008. In December 2008, Hofmeyr allegedly assaulted Esmaré Weideman, editor of ''
Huisgenoot ''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans for ''House Companion'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine '' YOU'', ...
'', a popular Afrikaans magazine, by pouring a cup of cold tea over her at the Miss South Africa finals. He was said to have blamed her and two other journalists for his divorce from Sutherland. Weideman subsequently dropped her accusations of assault. On 19 December 2013, Hofmeyr was arrested in
Bronkhorstspruit Bronkhorstspruit is a town 50 km east of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa along the N4 highway towards Witbank. It also includes three townships called Zithobeni, Rethabiseng and Ekangala. On 18 May 2011, the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipal ...
for driving at 169 km/h in an 80 km/h zone and was released on bail of R500. He was subsequently fined R10,000 in the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court on 23 January 2014. Hofmeyr married Janine van der Vyver on 26 January 2014. In 2008, van der Vyver, a fitness instructor, revealed they had been seeing each other for 10 years. Their daughter, Romy Lee, was born 19 June 2017. Hofmeyr's grandfather, Steve Hofmeyr Sr., was a leader in the
Ossewabrandwag The ''Ossewabrandwag'' (OB) (, from af , ossewa , translation = ox-wagon and af , brandwag , translation = guard, picket, sentinel, sentry - ''Ox-wagon Sentinel'') was an anti-British and pro-German organisation in South Africa during Worl ...
. Hofmyer is also an outspoken Christian. He served the compulsory two years of military service required in South Africa at the time.


Controversies


News Cafe Controversy

In January 2007, there were reports that one branch of the News Cafe restaurant chain would not play Hofmeyr's song "Pampoen". The managing director of the company that owns the franchise denies that this is company policy and points out that many Afrikaans acts, such as
Karen Zoid Karen Zoid (born Karen Louise Greeff on 10 August 1978) is a South African rock singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer and talk show host. Her work in both English and Afrikaans has gathered critical acclaim, and she has been dubbed South Afri ...
and
Arno Carstens Arno Carstens (born 12 March 1972) is a South African musician and artist. Career Arno Carstens is a platinum selling, award-winning singer-songwriter based in Cape Town, South Africa. During his career as the lead singer of The Springbok Nu ...
have performed at News Cafe.


Racism

On 12 May 2011, Hofmeyr released the lyrics to his new song called "Ons sal dit oorleef", which means "We will survive this". The song is controversial, because Hofmeyr threatened to include the ethnic slur " kaffir" in the lyrics of the song. Hofmeyr removed the offensive word in his song, citing that the word would offend his black friends and colleagues. In 2011, he made public that he supports the Afrikaner advocacy group "Expedition for Afrikaner Self-Determination" ( Onafhanklike Afrikaner Selfbeskikkingsekspedisie, OASE). Hofmeyr was heavily criticised after performing the former South African national anthem, '' Die Stem'', at a cultural festival known as ''Innibos'' in Nelspruit in July 2014. He went on to perform the anthem on international tours, and encouraged white South Africans to continue singing it, stating that it did not contain any form of hate speech. In October 2014, Hofmeyr wrote and published a tweet stating that he believed that black South Africans were the "architects of apartheid" on his public Twitter account. This prompted a significant public backlash. One of Hofmeyr's critics was puppeteer Conrad Koch through his puppet Chester Missing, who launched a campaign calling on companies to stop sponsoring Hofmeyr. On 27 November 2014, Hofmeyr failed to acquire a final protection order against Koch and his puppet in the Randburg Magistrate's Court. Hofmeyr has given statements indicative of apartheid denialism, leading various journalists and political analysts to label him a "disgrace to South Africa".


Views on LGBTQ+

Hofmeyr criticized Disney's plan to have more inclusive characters, suggesting this was a way of teaching children "bestiality" and that the "+” in LGBTQ+ could be inclusive of relationships with animals. The South African Human Rights Commission has set out demands for Hofmeyr to pay an amount of R500,000 to an NPO who fights for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, post a formal apology to the LGBTQ+ community, serve 20 hours of community service at an LGBTQ+ center, and attend a workshop on diversity and inclusivity.


Claims about murders of white South Africans

Hofmeyr has made numerous claims relating to murders of white South Africans. Hofmeyr has claimed that whites, and in particular Afrikaners, are being "killed like flies", posting on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
that "my tribe is dying". Hofmeyr also posted a picture of a "World Cup soccer stadium" which he claimed could be filled by the number of whites murdered by blacks. Africa Check, a fact-checking organisation has found Hofmeyr's claims to be "incorrect and grossly exaggerated", pointing out that whites are in fact "less likely to be murdered than any other race group". Lizette Lancaster from the
Institute for Security Studies The Institute for Security Studies, also known as ISS or ISS Africa (to distinguish itself from other similarly named institutes in other parts of the world), described itself as follows: "an African organisation which aims to enhance human se ...
told Africa Check that "Whites are far less likely to be murdered than their black or coloured counterparts." While white South Africans account for nearly 9% of the population, they account for 8.1% of murder victims.


Removal from MultiChoice networks

On 30 April 2019, all content with Hofmeyr was removed from all
MultiChoice MultiChoice is a South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa and GOtv, a minor service operating in over 9 countries of this area and Showmax service. MultiChoice was formed out of the sub ...
networks, most notably DStv after Steve's nationalist song "Die Land" (The Land) was removed from an award show category from Multichoice request. In response, Hofmeyr called for a boycott of Multichoice, calling for fans to destroy their DStv boxes. Due to this,
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
singers, including Bobby van Jaarsveld and Bok van Blerk boycotted a number of televised award shows and concerts in solidarity.


Discography

*''Desertbound'' (1989) *''Only Me'' (1990) *''Steve'' (1991) *''No Hero'' (1992) *''Tribute'' (1993) *''Tribute Volume 2'' (1994) *''The Hits/Die Treffers'' (1994) *''Decade'' (1995) *''Close to You'' (1997) *''True to You'' (1997) *''Die Bloubul (1997)'' *''Southern Cross'' (1999) *''Die Bok Kom Weer'' (1999) *''Beautiful Noise'' (2000) *''Grootste Treffers Volume 2'' (2000) *''Engele Om Ons'' (2001) *''Toeka'' (2003) *''Toeka 2'' (2004) *''Grootste Platinum Treffers'' (2005) *''Laaities & Ladies'' (2006) *''Waarmaker'' (2007) *''Go Bulle Go'' (2008) *''Sings Kris Kristofferson'' (2008) *''Solitary Man – Songs of Neil Diamond'' (2009) *''Duisend en Een'' (2010) *''Haloda'' (2011) ( SA No. 16) *''25 Jaar se Bestes'' (2012) * ''Toeka 3 (2014)'' (SA No. 1) *''If you could read my mind (2015)'' (SA No. 2) *''Skree (2017)'' (SA No. 1) * ''The Country Collection'' (2018) (SA No. 1) *''The Country Collection Vol. 3 (2019)'' *''Ek Kort... (2020)''


Filmography


Stage

*''Summer Holiday'' *''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' *''Die Soen'' *n Plek Binne Jou Seun'' *''Sound of Music'' *''Dis Hoe Dit Was – Die Steve Hofmeyr Storie'' *''Lied van my Hart'' *''Boeta se Vel Fluit''


Film

*'' Kampus'' (1986) *'' Agter Elke Man'' (1990) *''No Hero'' (1992) *''Die Gevaar Van De AAR'' (1993) *'' A Case of Murder'' (2004) *''Bakgat 2'' (2010) *'' Platteland'' (2011) *'' Pretville'' (2012) *'' Treurgrond'' (2015)


Television

*''Guillam Woudberg'' (1985) *'' Agter Elke Man'' (1986–1988) *'' Egoli'' (1992–2001) *''Sporting Chance'' (1995) *'' 7de Laan'' (2007–2012) *'' Comedy Central Roast of Steve Hofmeyr'' (2012) *''Dis Hoe Dit Is met Steve'' (2006 -) *''Die Kwesbares'' (2020)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmeyr, Steve 20th-century South African male singers 21st-century South African male singers Afrikaans-language singers Living people People from Pretoria Afrikaner people Alumni of Grey College, Bloemfontein Afrikaner nationalists South African white nationalists 1964 births