NEWS & ANALYSIS

Twitter users track down and want to visit man in 'k-word' holiday video

Links to companies Adam Catzavelos apparently does business with were also unearthed with threats to boycott them

Twitter users track down and want to visit man in 'k-word' holiday video

22 August 2018

Nedbank and 702 have moved swiftly to distance themselves from a holidaymaker who used the k-word to describe the beach he was visiting, after Twitter users posted links to work he had done with them.

"Nedbank and 702 strongly condemn all forms of racism. Adam Catzavelos is not a Nedbank employee," read the statement posted on 702's website at 00:23 on Wednesday.

"He took part in a Business Accelerator Programme in 2014. He, along with 360 other entrepreneurs, was profiled on the programme hosted on 702 and sponsored by Nedbank over 6-years," the statement read.

The same statement was tweeted by Nedbank.

The radio station's news division EWN reported that a tweet had emerged showing a man who described a beach using the k-word on Tuesday.

By Tuesday night Twitter users had mobilised to find out his name, where he works, and by Wednesday morning had started sending WhatsApp pictures of themselves to a number purporting to be his.

His wife was also named, and there were unverified claims that she worked at Nike. Links to companies he apparently does business with were also unearthed with threats to boycott them.

Comment was not immediately available from him. The phone rang at the company he purportedly works for and comment was not immediately available from them either.

News24