Gareth Cliff's "State of the Nation Undress" sets a nude precedent for mocking president.
|||5FM DJ Gareth Cliff’s “State of the Nation Undress” stole the show on Twitter during the president’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening.
Many who ordinarily would not have watched the event tuned in to take part in Cliff’s online game as he encouraged people to watch the address with close friends and take part in a game.
Every time the president laughed, said “absolutely”, “poverty”, touched his glasses with his middle finger, or seemed to be distracted by an attractive woman seated in the audience, an item of clothing would be sacrificed. And once naked, you would have to start drinking.
Those taking part were encouraged to wear as many clothes as possible, including extra items such as hair bands, watches, socks, rings and vests.
Within 27 minutes of the president’s speech, Carmen Wilkinson (@SATCarms) became the first to lose all her clothing.
She tweeted, “@GarethCliff and I’m naked” with a picture of her clothes on the tiled floor.
For the 2011 speech, Cliff ran a similar activity encouraging participants to sip alcohol drinks at mention of “absolutely”, the president’s cough, and the routine middle-finger glasses adjustment.
Cliff wrote on his website that the game attracted close to 400 000 online participants.
Other celebrities took to Twitter to voice their opinions.
Hlomla Dandala, actor and son of former Cope leader Bishop Mvume Dandala, took to Twitter to mock the president’s speech.
“I really want to hear what the state of the nation is, but damn, my precedent makes it hard for me,” mocking Zuma’s pronunciation.
Dandala was subsequently attacked by Zuma fans, who were quick to remind him of his father’s failure at Cope.
Cape Town jazz musician Simphiwe Dana, who regularly fights Helen Zille on Twitter, was not impressed with the red carpet event outside Parliament. -Saturday Star