{"id":919525,"date":"2022-01-25T16:08:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T16:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/news\/2022\/01\/25\/somizi-mhlongo-probes-if-cyberbullying-played-a-part-in-patrick-shais-passing\/"},"modified":"2022-01-25T16:08:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T16:08:25","slug":"somizi-mhlongo-probes-if-cyberbullying-played-a-part-in-patrick-shais-passing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/01\/25\/somizi-mhlongo-probes-if-cyberbullying-played-a-part-in-patrick-shais-passing\/","title":{"rendered":"Somizi Mhlongo probes if cyberbullying played a part in Patrick Shai\u2019s passing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/e5e7be37-fca0-5299-bf65-62aac7c8a7c4&#038;operation=CROP&#038;offset=0x0&#038;resize=1080x608.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div><!--sse--><\/p>\n<p>While South Africa is still reeling in shock following the tragic passing of thespian Patrick Shai, Somizi Mhlongo came out guns blazing, slamming cyberbullies. <\/p>\n<p>According to Somizi these cyberbullies may have contributed to Shai taking his own life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Shai died at his Dobsonville home on Saturday morning. He was 65.<\/p>\n<p>Though sources close to the family told The Star it was Shai&#8217;s wife Mmasechaba who discovered the late actor hanging from the garage ceiling, family spokesperson Amogelang Mmusi declined to reveal the cause of death.<\/p>\n<p>Shai\u2019s death came just days after a video of him challenging Cassper Nyovest to a boxing match in which he refers to the rapper as a \u2019son of a b&#8230;h\u201c went viral. Shai later issued an apology but even then trolls continued to bash him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"RelatedArticlescss__StyledRelatedArticles-sc-10g88yu-0 ezIKFV\">\n<h2><span>MORE ON THIS<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In a video shared on his Instagram on Sunday, the \u201cIdols SA\u201d judge blasted all those who \u201chide behind the keyboard\u201d and encourage a new form of \u201cmodern form of ostracism\u201d called cancel culture, something that is fast becoming a norm in the social media streets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSocial media is the biggest cause of suicide because of cyberbullying,\u201d said Somizi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBra Patrick for instance, I&#8217;ve known him personally and I wouldn&#8217;t jump to the conclusion that (cyberbullying) was the reason he committed suicide. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cI could be as a result of what happened on Twitter recently. No. But it could be the ultimate&#8230; enough is enough for him or it could be a whole of other things that he was going through. That reminded us it&#8217;s possible that (the negative comments on Twitter) and what does that say about us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The star went on to explain that he watched the video where Shai was talking about the fight (with Cassper).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI only watched it once and I could tell that this was all a joke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIt came out wrong to a certain extent. But he apologised but social media went in&#8230; and now we wonder if we are partly responsible for his passing. Are we going to live with that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The star went on to address the internet trolls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo the bullies, you are creating your karma. Whether you tried dragging someone&#8217;s name through the mud, whether you tried to make them feel inferior, whether you try to crush their self-esteem, you must know, you will reap what you saw.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Karma will deal with you&#8230; It may not find you but it will find your bloodline, I&#8217;m warning you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watch the full video below:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CZEJOzdIrMN\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>Meanwhile, seasoned actor and director Hloma Dandala also slammed those who harassed Shai following the Cassper video.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cAll those people who came for him for likes. I hope you\u2019re happy,\u201d said Dandala on Sunday after receiving the sad news of Shai\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/CZCBjSHhTCU\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the video, that went viral, Shai referred to Cassper as \u201cson of b&#8230;h\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote: \u201cNone are so dangerous as those who don\u2019t know that they don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cFor the record: Son of a bitch is a slur. And is sometimes even used affectionately. It is not a reference to one\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CZI4QGCjVl4\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>Shai\u2019s family announced that the memorial service for the legendary actor will take place at the Market Theatre on Thursday, January 27 at 12pm.<\/p>\n<p>And his funeral service will be held at the Soweto Theatre, on Saturday, January 29 at 8am.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While South Africa is still reeling in shock following the tragic passing of thespian Patrick Shai, Somizi Mhlongo came out guns blazing, slamming cyberbullies. According to Somizi these cyberbullies may have contributed to Shai taking his own life. Shai died at his Dobsonville home on Saturday morning. He was 65. Though sources close to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-919525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}