In a year of historic elections across the world, one of the most unforgettable moments in a debate was Donald Trump saying “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats”. But it took a South African musician David Scott, AKA The Kiffness, to turn that into a viral hit viewed about 100 million times already. However, he has become embroiled in another international political storm after objecting to statements made by Gift of the Givers Founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman. This after he had previously been labelled a racist for his parody of the National Anthem after Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma banned cigarettes during COVID. In this interview with BizNews, he shares the stories behind these parodies. He also reminds Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) President Julius Malema that he has broken a big promise. Meanwhile, The Kiffness remains defiant in the face of daily threats as he prepares to tour the UK, the US, Europe, and Australia next year.
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Extended transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Chris Steyn (00:01.514)
In a year of historic elections across the world, one of the most unforgettable moments in a debate was Donald Trump saying, they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats. But it took a South African musician to turn that into a viral hit. And he is with us now. Welcome to David Scott, AKA The Kiffness.
David (00:24.854)
Thank you so much for having me Chris and thanks to all the BizNews listeners for having me here. It’s always a privilege.
Chris Steyn (00:34.392)
Please recap for our viewers the story of your parody hit.
David (00:40.352)
Well I was meant to be getting ready for my European tour. I was in my studio just rehearsing and then people started sending me this video of Donald Trump and my first thought was flip I’m gonna have to remix this now but I’m supposed to be practicing but I thought let me just give this a shot and within a day I had a song which I actually thought was quite cool. There was a sort of tonality or rhythm to Donald Trump’s speech that was actually quite musical and so I turned it into a song and I didn’t want it to be political.
That was just the one condition of making the song. So I wanted to make sure that I had a cause that everyone could unite behind and that was animals. I think most people around the world love animals and so I wanted to make sure that all the money made from the song was going to go towards the SPCA in Springfield, Ohio. And we’ve raised, I think, in the region of hundred thousand dollars for the SPCA there, which is just amazing. And yeah, it was just great to see the response to the song. People from all sides, Democrat, Republican, all loved it and it’s just amazing that you can use someone like Donald Trump to unify people through music and that’s just the power of music.
Chris Steyn (02:05.784)
How many times has it been viewed by now?
David (02:10.89)
Within the first day on Twitter alone it got 50 million views it just blew up completely on Twitter or X and last time I checked I think it had about 15 million views on YouTube so yeah I think collectively it’s if we had to take all the platforms into consideration I think it’s gotten about 100 million views
Chris Steyn (02:38.432)
Not quite what you would have expected.
David (02:41.708)
Well, yeah, that’s I’ve made viral videos in the past and you kind of get a sense of when something’s going to go viral or not. Sometimes I get it wrong, but I just had a strong sense with this one. I think there was something about the rhythm as well, know, Afro beats, which is just so infectious and, you know, globally recognised now. The first draft of the song actually didn’t sound that great. It was just like an ordinary, you know, beats that you know didn’t really inspire anything and then I thought let me just try afro beat see what happens and then as soon as I did that I just thought no this is this is gonna go far; there was just something about it
Chris Steyn (03:20.15)
And you have performed this song in concert.
David (03:25.102)
Yeah, it’s something I debated at length with my manager because my show for the most part is remixing animals and interesting people from around the world and we have a very non-political show. And so to introduce someone like Donald Trump into the show was something we weren’t sure about. I don’t think it’s ever really wise to bring politics into a live show that’s all about positive vibes and just bringing people together. So we talked about it at length and we’re looking through all the comments on social media and for the most part the comments weren’t for or against or anything like that. So we thought let’s just give this a shot. And it was pretty much the hit song of the entire show for that tour. People loved it all across Europe. We played Germany, Spain, France, all over the place. And it was just so well received no matter where we went. So it was definitely the right move, I think.
Chris Steyn (04:37.014)
Okay, but since then you have become embroiled in another international political storm. Please tell us what is happening.
David (04:48.268)
Yeah, so I’ve never been one to, you know, shy away from expressing myself as a musician. I think most musicians, you know, they stay away from from making any kind of political commentary because it can be detrimental to their career. I’ve seen many musicians face backlash and then they get, you know, taken off radio stations or they lose their sponsorship deals and that kind of thing.
I’m now being in the fortunate position where you know I have a global audience that I’ve built up through platforms like YouTube and I feel like I’m in this fortunate position where no matter what I say I’m always going to have a base around the world who will support my music and you know I don’t rely on the traditional sort of forms of media that you know musicians have relied on throughout the years like radio and record labels and all that kind of thing. I’ve built this up by myself which is you know and not a lot of musicians can say that; so I am lucky in that I can just speak my mind and not really worry too much about the repercussions of that. So that’s probably why you don’t hear a lot of musicians speaking out it’s just out of fear and I can can totally understand that. I was in that position not so long ago where I relied very much on on sponsorships and radio and I’ve just been able to move past that.
So I’d say during COVID, you know when I was making parody songs just about the the Coronavirus and all that kind of thing, it very quickly moved from just you know laughing about the situation, it moved from parody into political satire because you know obviously our politicians were making very strange decisions about what we can and can’t do and so I started singing about that and I’d say that was my first you know exposure to to kind of media bashing where you know all kinds of news outlets were just kind of coming after me.
David (07:12.798)
I think that’s when my eyes were opened to the fact that the media is completely biased because no one knows the story better than I do. I know that my parody about Julius Malema was well received and then when the Sunday Times comes along and says South Africa gives Kiffness a massive thumbs down on his new Julius Malema parody I’d look at that and go well that’s not the truth; you’re cherry picking maybe a few comments that people have made, mainly EFF supporters, and you’re making that the headline.
So that’s when I was aware of what was actually going on. And I thought to myself, well, if they’re lying about me, what else have they lied about? And so that’s when I kind of went on this journey of trying to find the truth through other avenues. And I’m just so grateful for platforms like X that allow us to actually look at things at the source and make up our own minds. And I think the media are struggling to sort of counter that because there’s a very obvious bias narrative that they’re trying to push. And if you just search a little bit deeper then you actually can find the truth. So that’s the position that I find myself in.
Yeah recently you know I started seeing videos of Dr. Sooliman from Gift of the Givers where he was just saying things that seemed you know at odds with the values that Gift of the Givers stood for which is you know unity and non-partisanship and yeah it just really bothered me because you know, I’ve always supported Gift of the Givers. I’ve been very outspoken in my support for them. I’ve raised money for them through my platform. When UCT had their fires, I sold my merch and gave all the money from the profits of that merchandise to Gift of the Givers so that they could help with the fires. I’ve made beams saying, you know, this is what South Africa could look like if we…
David (09:32.04)
…we gave our tax money to Give of the Givers instead of the ANC and it’s like this utopian picture. So yeah when Dr. Sooliman started saying all this stuff it just came as a big shock to me and I guess the first thing that I saw which raised red flags was he was being interviewed I think by Newsroom Africa. They’re asking him about the GNU they’re saying you know what’s your prayer for the GNU? Very nice question, you know, open-ended and Dr. Sooliman said no it’s not a Government of National Unity, it’s a Government of Selective Unity because how can you call it a GNU when you don’t include MK or the EFF? And I thought why would anyone want MK or the EFF in a GNU? I mean they’re the most radical, you know, crazy people out there. I mean the EFF are sympathetic towards Hamas. They call for the killing of white people in this country. So for him, a humanitarian to say something like that just struck me as very odd. But I didn’t think much more of it. I just thought, okay, well that was just an unfortunate thing for him to say. Move on.
And then just more and more stuff was coming up. You know, he was in an interview saying that he breaks the law in South Africa all the time and he only follows Quranic law which I thought was also just very strange that he thinks he’s above the law here in South Africa. I’m trying to think what else I saw. There are a number of things, but I think the video that I sort of focused on was when he was speaking at a mosque and saying we must strike fear or terror into the hearts of our enemies. You know, this is what the Quran tells us to do.
David (11:41.562)
And you know I’ve got nothing against Muslim people like I’m a Christian, I follow the Bible and you know if someone wants to quote the Quran that’s their prerogative but as a humanitarian if you’re telling people we need to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy and in this case he was talking about Zionists I just thought you you can’t be saying that as a someone who claims to be a humanitarian. So I took issue with that and you know, he was quoting the Quran, so I quoted the Bible saying, know, beware of false prophets because they come to you in sheep’s clothing but underneath they’re ferocious wolves. And to me it just seems like that’s truly the case where Dr. Sooliman appears to be a humanitarian and we can’t deny he’s done amazing humanitarian work and help people regardless of their religion or their race and I’ve got nothing against that but if you’re going to do that you can’t be you can’t pair it with violent and divisive rhetoric and that’s what I have issue with.
Chris Steyn (13:00.001)
Well, he has responded at length, what do you make of his rebuttal?
David (13:09.046)
I think he should open up his books. I think that would dispel a lot of myths. If he could open up his books and show that there’s no funneling of funds into organisations that we’re not aware of, then I’m happy to say that I was wrong. But on the same token, even if the books are clean, I think his rhetoric needs to you know, become more moderate. Because as I say, you can’t call yourself a humanitarian if you support the EFF. It just doesn’t make any sense. And I think, you know, the person who interviewed him didn’t question any of his recent rhetoric. If anything, he was just, you know, reciting back to him what he said in his own book. So there was no, rhere was no real pressure on him to actually answer for the things that he said. It was a fluff piece in my opinion.
Chris Steyn (14:19.832)
Now, are there any recent or current political events that you would like to comment on – and set off another firestorm?
David (14:29.646)
Well I mean today, five years ago, Julius Malema said if we haven’t built a school within five years then don’t elect us, we’re all useless. So this was on the 16th of December 2019, this is what Julius Malema said. It’s now 16th of December 2024 and we don’t have a school yet so…I brought this up on X. I said, listen, this is what you said five years ago. You’ve got until Monday and they don’t have a school. yeah, it’s just interesting that there seems to be no accountability for that. And just the other day, Malema was going on the same tangent about, the need to…
revolution requires violence and all this kind of stuff and this is this is the person that Dr Sooliman says should be in in government which is just bizarre.
So yeah I for the most part I really I try to stay out of politics. I’m a musician, I’m a creative, that’s what I want to just focus my energies on but you know I’m also a father and I want to make sure that South Africa is a peace-loving nation that respects people with different views and we uplift the Constitution and we don’t have people running around just stoking fires by the things that they say. I think if you’re a person in a position of power or influence you should be held accountable for what you say. And so if I see people saying crazy things I’m going to use my platform to show my concern because you know am a concerned citizen and a concerned father and I want this country to be safe for everyone.
Chris Steyn (16:35.606)
Now, there are people on X who have labelled you a racist as a result and who would like to see you begging for your life before they skin you alive. What do you have to say to them?
David (16:50.39)
I believe you’re quoting Tony Yengeni who said, know, Twitter detectives, let’s find this guy and skin him alive. And this was, you know, after Mzwandile Masina posted a picture of me saying, who is this racist? And this was after my parody of Dlamini-Zuma about her decision to ban cigarettes. And so I parodied the National Anthem, which obviously, you know, made Masina very angry and yeah, he basically started a witch hunt on me and Yengeni responded saying you know, let’s let’s find this guy and skin him alive and, you know, I wasn’t used to any of that at that point. It was, it was quite scary at the time but yeah, and I, I had a decision to make, I had lawyers in my inbox saying you need a suit for defamation. This is a slam dunk case. But then I had other people saying, you know, don’t worry about, you know, getting litigious, rather try and just speak to the guy. And that’s what I did. I recorded the conversation and it’s up on YouTube and we just talked about it. And I think that’s what needs to happen. You know, we need to have these kinds of conversations where we’re face to face and we can actually recognise each other’s humanity. For the most part we had a pretty civil conversation, we disagreed on most or on some things, but that conversation is up for anyone to see and you can decide for yourself if I’m a racist or not. But I think this thing of mudslinging and just saying crazy things about people needs to stop.
But think we just need to have conversations. I’d love to speak to someone like Dr. Sooliman, where we can actually just talk about this and instead of the Daily Maverick, who don’t ask him, why are you saying all this stuff? Why are you saying that the EFF…
David (19:00.654)
…should be in government. They aren’t, they’re not asking those questions. I’d love to ask them those questions and maybe just have a civil conversation about it and then maybe we’ll understand each other a bit better.
Chris Steyn (19:13.816)
Have you received any threats since the Gift of the Givers?
David (19:19.854)
I receive threats every day, but it’s water off a duck’s back. It’s not going to stop me from speaking my mind. I’ve grown a pretty thick skin since the first few threats that I got for my satirical parodies. And yeah, I was meant to be speaking at my junior school, Pridwin. This was last week, Wednesday. I was meant to be there. And basically two days before my appearance…I prepared my whole speech and it had nothing to do with politics. I just wanted to inspire the boys and tell them about my journey and how I picked up music at Pridwin and how it helped me become the person I am today. It was going to be great. I’ve spoken at Michaelhouse, my old high school, and that was received really well. And then two days before the headmaster decided to cancel my appearance because apparently you know a couple of the Muslim parents were upset about what i’d said and they said you know if this guy speaks we’re going to boycott the event and you know instead of saying fine like don’t come to the event he cancelled my appearance and I think that’s that’s very unfortunate you know caving to the demands of a small group of people i don’t think is, yeah, it’s not the kind of headmaster I’d want, you know, running my son’s school because, you know, if cancel culture has taught us anything, is if you bow to the demands of the people with the loudest voices or the people who make the loudest threats, nothing ever good comes out of that. If anything, it just emboldens them and, yeah, you can’t, you can’t cower to bullies.
Chris Steyn (21:17.42)
Are you working on a new hit?
David (21:21.486)
At the moment I’m just enjoying time with friends and family, playing a lot of paddle and golf and that sort of thing. But yeah, I’m always working on stuff here and there. Political satire and that kind of stuff, I feel like it’s a chapter that I’ve turned over and the stuff that I’m doing now where it’s just remixing animals and people around the world. That’s what I enjoy doing. And so for the most part, I think I’m just going to stick to that. Yeah, people are always sending me interesting videos and ideas through my social media platforms. So always just keeping an eye out for what I’m going to remix next. And then, yeah, the thing with Donald Trump, I was just… I think it’s because he was talking about dogs and cats. It felt like these two worlds of political satire and remixing animals just kind of came together in the most unexpected way and I think that’s why it worked. But yeah I don’t think I’m gonna be remixing Dr. Sooliman or Julius Malema or anyone like that anytime soon.
Chris Steyn (22:42.21)
So what international tours do you have lined up for 2025?
David (22:47.222)
It’s going to be a busy year. February I’ve got a UK tour. In May I’ve got a North America tour. I think September is going to be a Europe tour and there’s also an Australia tour. So pretty much, yeah, intercontinental. And yeah, I’ve got some amazing festivals that I’m playing; opening for Green Day and Yellow Card bands that I grew up listening to. So it’s just… yeah, consider myself very fortunate to be playing a lot of shows and yeah, the only downside is I miss my family so much when I’m away but one day they’ll be able to travel with me and I think that’ll be the way to go but yeah, it’s gonna be a busy year.
Chris Steyn (23:40.504)
Thank you.
Chris Steyn (23:44.578)
Thank you. David Scott, aka The Kiffness, speaking to BizNews, and I’m Chris Steyn.
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