Shashi Naidoo apologises for her Gaza comments

Model and media personality Shashi Naidoo says she is not worried about losing jobs.

She has been responding to reports that she has been dropped from this year’s Vodacom Durban July and other endorsements.

This is after comments she made on social media about the unrest between Israel and Palestine.

Speaking at a press conference held in Johannesburg Wednesday morning, Naidoo said brands are right to distance themselves from her.

“A lot of people have asked if I’m worried about losing endorsements, work, I think for my side that is not a primary concern of mine at the moment I think. Rightfully so brands should distance themselves from this conflict and one thing I’ve realised that I have a voice and I’m going to use that in a positive way to discuss the humanitarian issues.”

Naidoo says she is disappointed in herself for not knowing what was happening in Gaza.

In a series of posts made over the weekend, Naidoo got into a debate with a follower on Instagram over the situation in Gaza.

“Look I’ve made a very public apology and a part of that apology was to educate myself and to re-educate myself and me approaching a very clear but I also want to know that there’s no way this mean that I’m radicalizing myself to one side or another. Because I feel that this has become a political debate and one can be caught in the middle and sometimes ignorance can be just as bad.”

It is with great humility that I step forward and not only accept, but again, sincerely and deeply apologise to all that I offended and hurt for my post in regard to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and my lack of understanding in my initial apology to the Muslim community. This should of been to the Palestinian people in the first instance, and broader society as a whole. I apologise unconditionally, but I would also like to this opportunity to explain what happened with regard to my recent Instagram posts. I posted a picture with a DJ recently in Ibiza and the post attracted commentary from another Instagram user because he had played in Israel. In what I believed was defense of him, I reached out to a friend to help articulate a response and offer a secondary point of view, as to be honest, I didn’t know much about the situation (although it sure must have looked otherwise). I stupidly copied and pasted the response verbatim in a feeble attempt to appear smart on social media without reading it comprehensibly (I know), thereby entering an issue of world importance, I had no real fundamental understanding of – my biggest mistake. There is no spin. This is the truth. I expressed his worldview as my own, and for that I will forever live with the consequences. I agree with the commentary that it not only highlighted my ignorance on the issue and the way it was handled, but also made me seem uncaring and indifferent to the suffering of any human on this planet. I in no way wish to make excuses or expect people to forgive me at this time. I messed up. I know that, and I take full accountability. All that I hope to achieve is to convey that I am sincerely sorry, and in a way thank every one who called me out, as I have learnt from this. No matter what ones beliefs are, there is always room for empathy and compassion. The last couple of days have shown me that there is a larger education that I need to undertake on issues facing humanity. I have read the commentary and will further not only educate, but re-educate myself . Words will never be enough to express how truly sorry I am. It will be in my actions going forward that I do better.

A post shared by Shashi Naidoo (@shashinaidoo) on Jun 18, 2018 at 11:08pm PDT