If you’ve listened to radio over the past few years, you would have definitely heard a track by popular electronic act The Kiffness. They’re the guys behind hits such as ‘Evergreen’, ‘Find A Way’ and many more bangers. The duo dropped their brand new single ‘You Say You Love Me’ earlier this week and dropped an incredibly touching video with it. The duo released a video which both encourages and empowers not only the LGBT community but anyone who feels ostracised for who they truly are and, after the mass shooting at LGBTQ-friendly Pulse nightclub in Miami last month, the duo knew this was a video the world needed to see.
While being applauded for the video, the band’s Dave Scott opened up about a personal story that has had a huge impact on his life. In a detailed Facebook post, Dave tells his story. “I had a really tough time at junior school. I was once at a sleep over with a bunch of mates & we were all mucking about and long story short I touched a boy’s penis,” Dave reveals. “The boy shouted to everyone “Hey guys, Dave touched my winky!” The next day rumour quickly spread that I was gay & it wasn’t long before I became the laughing stock of the school. I knew that I wasn’t gay and that I was just being silly & curious, but going through junior school & parts of high school being called “gay” or “faggot” did a lot of damage to me.”
Luckily, the producer has happily moved on from his traumatic experiences, forgave those who harmed him and married the woman of his dreams. Oh, and became one of South Africa’s greatest pop acts as well. However, the one question Dave always asks himself is what if, in fact, he was gay? “What if I was bullied for being something that was the foundation of who I am? How much more hurt would that have caused?” he says. “Although I’ll never be able to fully comprehend the pain that members of the LGBT community go through on a daily basis, I can relate to the pain on some level. I think that’s why I am so proud of the music video for our new song, because it sends a strong message that you should never be ashamed of who you are or what you have done.”
This is why the message behind The Kiffness’ new song and video is so important. Dave reminds the local LGBTQ community that they are accepted and loved – no matter what their sexual orientation. “We challenge you to never be ashamed, and to always be proud of who you are,” the singer says. Dave has previously made waves after posting a video calling Telkom out for their annoying talking baby ads and is currently making headlines after calling out retail giant Woolworths for their incredibly skinny mannequins.
The truth is, this is definitely something incredibly difficult to open up about and we commend Dave for using his voice for good – always. We are so proud of him and we wish him and the band all the success in the world. We need people who openly speak good – no matter how uncomfortable people get while listening.
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[…] have here in our Cape Town LGBT community,” the band’s Dave Scott said. He also revealed that a personal bullying experience made this video even more important to him. The video shoot was sadly marked with tragedy as it was […]