Steve Hofmeyr

Steve Hofmeyr (born 29 August 1964^[1]) is a South African singer, songwriter, writer, actor and former TV presenter.^[2]

Steve Hofmeyr
Steve Hofmeyr in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Steve Hofmeyr
Born	(1964-08-29) 29 August 1964 (age 59) Pretoria, South Africa
Genres	Afrikaans pop/folk
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter actor TV Presenter
Instrument(s)	Singing
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Big Heart Productions
Spouse(s)	Natasha Sutherland (m. 1998;div. 2008)
Website	stevehofmeyr.co.za

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 with other women.^[3][4] The couple was divorced after reports of numerous affairs dominated Hofmeyr's time in the spotlight in 2008.^[5]

In December 2008, Hofmeyr allegedly assaulted Esmaré Weideman, editor of Huisgenoot, a popular Afrikaans magazine, by pouring a cup of cold tea over her at the Miss South Africa finals.^[6] He was said to have blamed her and two other journalists for his divorce from Sutherland. Weideman subsequently dropped her accusations of assault.^[7]

On 19 December 2013, Hofmeyr was arrested in Bronkhorstspruit 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.^[8]

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.^[9] Their daughter, Romy Lee, was born 19 June 2017.^[10]

Hofmeyr's grandfather, Steve Hofmeyr Sr., was a leader in the Ossewabrandwag.^[11][12]

Hofmyer is also an outspoken Christian.^[13] He served the compulsory two years of military service required in South Africa at the time.^[14]

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 and Arno Carstens have performed at News Cafe.^[15]

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.^[16] Hofmeyr removed the offensive word in his song, citing that the word would offend his black friends and colleagues.^[17]

In 2011, he made public that he supports the Afrikaner advocacy group "Expedition for Afrikaner Self-Determination" (Onafhanklike Afrikaner Selfbeskikkingsekspedisie, OASE).^[18]

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.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21]

Hofmeyr has given statements indicative of apartheid denialism,^[22] leading various journalists and political analysts to label him a "disgrace to South Africa".^{[23][24][25][26]}

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.^[27] 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. As of October 2023 there is no evidence of Hofmeyr committing to such obligations.^[28]

Claims about murders of white South Africans

Further information: Crime in South Africa and White genocide conspiracy theory

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 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 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.^[29]

Removal from MultiChoice networks

On 30 April 2019, all content with Hofmeyr was removed from all MultiChoice networks, most notably DStv after Steve's song "Die Land" (The Land) was removed from an award show category from Multichoice request.^[30][31] In response, Hofmeyr called for a boycott of Multichoice,^[32] calling for fans to destroy their DStv boxes.^[33]

Due to this, Afrikaans singers, including Bobby van Jaarsveld and Bok van Blerk boycotted a number of televised award shows and concerts in solidarity.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

• Desertbound (1989)^[34]
• Only Me (1990)
• Steve (1991)
• No Hero (1992)
• Tribute (1993)
• Tribute Volume 2 (1994)
• The Hits/Die Treffers (1994)
• Decade (1995)
• Close to You - single (1997)
• True to You (1997)
• Die Bloubul - single (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 - EP (2008)
• Sings Kris Kristofferson (2008)
• Solitary Man – Songs of Neil Diamond (2009)
• Duisend en Een (2010)
• Haloda (2011) (SA No. 16^[35])
• 25 Jaar se Bestes (2012)
• Toeka 3 (2014) (SA No. 1^[36])
• If you could read my mind (2015) (SA No. 2^[37])
• Skree (2017) (SA No. 1^[38])
• The Country Collection (2018) (SA No. 1^[39])
• The Country Collection Vol. 3 (2019)
• Ek Kort... - single (2020)
• 'n Pa se Hart ft. Touch of Class - single (2021)
• Is Jy Hier - single (2022)
• Aanhou - single (2023)
• Mamba - single (2023)

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

1. "Steve Hofmeyr Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
2. "Red October march calls for end to black-on-white violence". Mail & Guardian. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
3. "Steve Hofmeyr". TVSA. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
4. "Q&A: Steve Hofmeyr". RollingStone Magazine. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
5. Philip de Bruin, News 24, "Steve 'needs psychiatric help", 17 December 2008
6. Philip de Bruin, News 24 (South Africa),"Steve gets shir-tea with editor", 17 December 2008
7. "Hofmeyr and editor end legal stand-off". Legalbrief. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
8. "Steve Hofmeyr fined R10 000 for speeding". Channel24.co.za. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
9. "Hofmeyr pays up in time for wedding".
10. "Congrats, pa! Steve Hofmeyr is a dad for the sixth time".
11. Green, Phyllis (7 March 2014). "Steve Hofmeyr gesels oor sy nuwe boek". Sarie (in Afrikaans).
12. Ebersöhn, Piet (25 July 2012). "Eerste sportredakteur was Oxford Blue én owerste van Stormjaers" (in Afrikaans).
13. @steve_hofmeyr (17 November 2012). "En sonder geloof is dit onmoontlik…" (Tweet). from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023 – via Twitter.
14. "Steve Hofmeyr | TVSA". www.tvsa.co.za. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
15. Eagan Williamson (4 January 2007). "News Cafe begin 'n ander (Afrikaanse) deuntjie sing". Beeld (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 8 January 2007.
16. "Steve Hofmeyr spits venom". 12 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
17. Sapa (17 May 2011). "K-word will offend my black friends, says Hofmeyr". Retrieved 20 May 2011.
18. "Steve Hofmeyr Supports OASE". OASE. 8 September 2011. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021.
19. "Hofmeyr sings Die Stem at Innibos". iol News. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
20. "Hofmeyr faces Twitter backlash after Apartheid post".
21. "Steve Hofmeyr 0, Chester Missing 1". Business Day. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
22. "Chester Missing questions sponsorship of 'apartheid denialist'". Mail & Guardian. SAPA. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
23. Dawjee, Haji Mohamed (29 October 2014). "Steve Hofmeyr: 7 books from his library". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
24. Cronje, Frans. "Steve Hofmeyr, you're a disgrace to South Africa". PoliticsWeb. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
25. Gous, Nico. "Hofmeyr in onderonsie oor 'white trash'". Netwerk24. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
26. "Steve Hofmeyr, 'Die Stem' and living in the past". 16 July 2014.
27. "SA Human Rights Commission wants R500k from Steve Hofmeyr for LGBTIQ+ comments". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
28. SAHRC. "Steve Hofmeyr faces music from Human Rights Commission over Disney bestiality comments". www.sahrc.org.za. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
29. "Are SA whites really being killed 'like flies'? Why Steve Hofmeyr is wrong".
30. "From racist tweet to viral rant: The Steve Hofmeyr drama unpacked". Channel. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
31. "DStv bans any content with Steve Hofmeyr". 30 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
32. "'I insist on my boycott': Steve Hofmeyr hits back at being debated on kykNET". 21 May 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
33. "Gone with DStv". 5 May 2019.
34. . Steve Hofmeyr Official Website. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
35. . SABC. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
36. . SABC. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
37. (in Afrikaans). Recording Industry of South Africa. Archived from the original on November 30, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
38. . SABC. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
39. . SABC. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.