Joburg Pride Statement
9 Sep 2008
9 Sep 2008
The recent developments around the visit of international performer RuPaul to South Africa appear to have given rise to some confusion in the LGBT community as to who is actually hosting the star.
The Board of Joburg Gay Pride Festival would like to clarify that RuPaul's attendance at the Cinema Nouveau Pride Film Festival (which is an independent entity from Joburg Pride) and performance at Therapy nightclub is a joint venture between Ster Kinekor and Therapy, and was not initiated or arranged by Joburg Pride.
"Joburg Pride has a separate partnership with Ster Kinekor which has resulted in Pride being named as the beneficiary of the ticket sales from the film festival's opening nights, however this was agreed to long before RuPaul came into the picture," says Pride Joint Chair Tanya Harford.
"While her presence at the opening nights may boost sales, which is clearly to the benefit of Pride, this was unknown and therefore not taken into account at the time of the negotiations. The festival is presented by Ster Kinekor and they can choose to add whatever benefits they like to the ticket price, whether it be access to parties, free popcorn or anything else."
Harford added that Joburg Pride was extremely proud of its relationship with Ster Kinekor and that the organisation appreciated the support shown by Ster Kinekor to the LGBT community.
"The fact that a Joburg Pride board member is also the co-owner of Therapy is irrelevant, and we do not believe that his role within Pride advantaged him or had any influence on the deal negotiated between Therapy and Ster Kinekor," says Harford.
"We have absolutely nothing to do with private arrangements made between Ster Kinekor and Therapy or any other local nightclub."
Harford also confirmed that Joburg Pride does not endorse any Pride after party, that there is no "official" after party and that all nightclubs are free to include their individual Pride events in the fringe events schedule of the Pride guide and Pride website.
The Board of Joburg Gay Pride Festival would like to clarify that RuPaul's attendance at the Cinema Nouveau Pride Film Festival (which is an independent entity from Joburg Pride) and performance at Therapy nightclub is a joint venture between Ster Kinekor and Therapy, and was not initiated or arranged by Joburg Pride.
"Joburg Pride has a separate partnership with Ster Kinekor which has resulted in Pride being named as the beneficiary of the ticket sales from the film festival's opening nights, however this was agreed to long before RuPaul came into the picture," says Pride Joint Chair Tanya Harford.
"While her presence at the opening nights may boost sales, which is clearly to the benefit of Pride, this was unknown and therefore not taken into account at the time of the negotiations. The festival is presented by Ster Kinekor and they can choose to add whatever benefits they like to the ticket price, whether it be access to parties, free popcorn or anything else."
Harford added that Joburg Pride was extremely proud of its relationship with Ster Kinekor and that the organisation appreciated the support shown by Ster Kinekor to the LGBT community.
"The fact that a Joburg Pride board member is also the co-owner of Therapy is irrelevant, and we do not believe that his role within Pride advantaged him or had any influence on the deal negotiated between Therapy and Ster Kinekor," says Harford.
"We have absolutely nothing to do with private arrangements made between Ster Kinekor and Therapy or any other local nightclub."
Harford also confirmed that Joburg Pride does not endorse any Pride after party, that there is no "official" after party and that all nightclubs are free to include their individual Pride events in the fringe events schedule of the Pride guide and Pride website.
Source: http://www.mask.org.za
