It appears what began as a tweet of a stolen concept idea has escalated to legal levels. Hastings Moeng, who claims he pitched the idea of Dinner with Somizi is reportedly sueing Somizi and Bar Leader TV owner, Legend Manqele as he believes the concept of Dinner with Somizi is his.
Legend Manqele has released a statement narrating his end of the story. In hid statement he says that the original concept of the cooking show was created during lockdown level 4 and 5 as a virtual cooking show hosted by Somizi and his husband, Mohale Motaung. The show was initially named, “Straight out of the Kitchen”. After shooting a couple of episodes, Multichoice requested some changes to the show and that is how they arrived to the final draft of Dinner with Somizi. Somizi initially wanted to host the show on YouTube but Manqele suggested they go with TV.
Dinner with Somizi reportedly sued
Legend Manqele also states that all the changes to the show with Multichoice are well documented due to email exchanges and so they are able to prove that there was no theft or plagiarism.
Regarding the email that Hastings supoosedly sent to Manqele, Legend stated that, “It is correct that Mr Hastings approached me at the gym approximately eight years ago, in the early stages of my business and me about an idea that he had for a cooking show. I gave him my email address and asked that he email me. I do not recall ever receiving the email that Mr Hastings sent me 8 years ago. In fact, the evidence clearly shows that I never opened the email from Mr Hastings”.
The issue remains unresolved although Dinner with Somizi has since been canceled by Multichoice owing to the unresolved theft claims. However, on the plus side, Somizi’s cook book is South Africa’s best selling food and beverage book!
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