South African media personality, Pearl Thusi, has come under fire for appearing to be insensitive to the passing of Khanyi Mbau’s father. In response to a post made by Khanyi announcing the funeral details for her and Lasizwe’s father Menzi Mcunu today, 22 September 2020, Pearl casually commented, “Hectic”.Her comment caused pandemonium on the post, with many accusing her of being heartless and cold. Refiloe Mamashila questioned her on her choice of words, responding to her comment with, “Why hectic though!!!! Couldn’t you use a different word…”. Many ordered for Pearl to delete her comment as it appeared to steal focus from the difficult time Khanyi and her brother, Lasizwe are currently facing. After being inundated with messages, Pearl responded in the thread of angry commenters.

She stated, “I interviewed Khanyi a few weeks ago and we spoke of her father quite intensely. This is why for me this is hectic. My father died this year. Hectic. So much is happening and I care about Khanyi… she knows what we’ve discussed. But you can all carry on…”. Her message didn’t seem to appease Khanyi’s followers, who felt that she could have responded in a more sympathetic way. Pearl followed up with, “I have Khanyi’s number. I don’t need to perform for you here.”Others believed that Pearl should not have brought in her own experience of losing her father into the post, and began labelling her as narcissistic and attention seeking. Miss Khumalo responded with, “why do you always have to relate to everything everyone posts shuuu be it achievements or what something sad wena you always have to add your own experiences khona khona lapho. Sorry for your loss but this is not about you write your own post and we shall send you condolences accordingly manje we still comforting uKhanyisile”.

Despite the many requests to remove her seemingly inappropriate comment, Pearl has yet to delete her response, causing for to top the trends list on Twitter.