David Macfarlane and Mungo Soggot Kanthan Pillay, a top executive at e.tv, has lodged a criminal defamation charge against noseweek editor Martin Welz for an in-depth analysis entitled”Backstage with the pricks and big dicks at e.tv”. Among other things, the article broached the alleged sexual antics of e.tv bosses, and the station’s allegedly dictatorial and erratic management style.
Welz said noseweek had heard rumours about the defamation charge on the grapevine, and that if it was true it would be a “joyous start to the new year. We’re looking forward to it.” In the article Pillay is described as Kanthan “Porno” Pillay and a “philosopher of porn”. On his e.tv-linked website he refers to himself as a “serial philanderer”. An article of pornographic musings by Pillay is also published on an Internet website that peddles”nasty adult stories” and styles itself the”hottest fetish porn site”. Pillay declined to discuss details of the charge, and also refused to say which sections of the article he finds defamatory. “The whole piece is actionable. Welz has committed a criminal action and I want him to be answerable for his crimes,” he said. The article also probes the activities of Pillay’s co-executive, Quraysh Patel “who likes to be known as’Bazooka'”. The noseweek article, published in the investigative news magazine’s November edition, describes how Pillay allegedly masterminded an attack on the Mail & Guardian (which had reported on some of e.tv’s troubles) by proposing a news item about racial tensions at the newspaper. Noseweek reported that when e.tv journalist Kalay Maistry discovered a”rather different story”, Pillay intervened.”In the best traditions of the’yellow press’, Pillay wasn’t having the facts spoil his good story.” Noseweek also said the incident illustrated Pillay’s “penchant for mixing fantasy with fact when dealing with the news”.