In a damning YouTube video made by Ben Crossman in April, rap-rave duo Die Antwoord were accused of abusing and grooming their adopted son, Gabriel "Tokkie" du Preez and biological daughter, Sixteen Meisie Jones.
Crossman, an ex cameraman of the band, spoke to Tokkie, who claimed that his parents, Yolandi Visser (Anri du Toit) and Ninja (Waddy Jones), used him as a slave, abused him, made him play with a sex doll, groomed him to think he was the devil, as well as cut off his allowance and alleged that his sister, Meisie, was in great danger and needed to get out of his parent’s custody.
The alternate hip hop band has now taken to social media to respond to the allegations made by Crossman and Tokkie.
In their statement, they acknowledge that they, as "Die Antwoord, have been accused by their “haters” for just about “every crime known to mankind”.
“With fame comes stalkers. Ben used to work for Die Antwoord until he got fired for being permanently stoned. Ever since then, Ben has dedicated his life to creating slander campaigns about Die Antwoord,“ said a statement on their Facebook page.
Yolandi and Ninja went on to say that Crossman spent his days doctoring video footage of them to post online.
Regarding the YouTube video that was released last month, Die Antwoord claimed that it was just a smear campaign.
“The video that Ben and Tokkie made has a PayPal account attached so that people can donate money to Tokkie to 'fix up his house', however Ben and Tokkie split the PayPal donations they receive.
“Tokkie continues to use the donation money to buy drugs, and Ben, who is unemployed, uses the money to live off,” Die Antwoord claimed.
Yolandi and Ninja did not respond to other claims made by Tokkie regarding his upbringing. However, they did address the wellbeing of their daughter, Meisie.
In the video, Tokkie said: “Why does Ninja want to see my sister naked? She is so small. It is pretty weird, it feels like a pervy vibe to me that Ninja wants to have with my sister. Every time when he phones the family, they ask if my sister is pregnant yet, and that is not going to happen, not on my watch.”
The Facebook statement confirmed that although Crossman had no direct contact with Die Antwoord or their daughter for many years, he recently went to the police in France (where he resides) and swore an affidavit stating that Meisie was in danger and needed to be removed immediately from their care.
Crossman then contacted the The Western Cape Department of Social Development and sent them the sworn affidavit.
“We believe Ben carefully orchestrated this move with Adriaan Basson, the editor-in-chief of News24, who also contacted the South African Social Services (at the exact same time as Ben) and fed them the same fake story.
“Adriaan Basson then directed Social Service's attention to a defamatory article about Die Antwoord that he had recently written and published through News24,” read the statement.
In the News24 article headlined: “Social welfare knocks on Die Antwoord's door”, it said the Children's Court in Cape Town issued an order allowing social workers access to Die Antwoord and their biological child.
“News24 understands the social workers were satisfied that their biological daughter was not in danger and could remain in their care,” read the article.
Basson is yet to respond.
In the Facebook statement Ninja and Yolandi confirmed that they got a visit from government and that "they found that she (their daughter) was perfectly safe, that everything was cool, and that there was no need for concern”.
They added: “We thought the information would be helpful to anyone wanting to know what is going on from Die Antwoord's side, as opposed to the one-sided version of the story being fed to the public by Ben Crossman, Tokkie and Adriaan Basson of News24.”
They went on to explain that Tokkie came from a very broken home and they tried their best to “help him”.
“Unfortunately you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. We urge Tokkie to turn himself in and seek professional help”.
Moving forward, the pair said that even though some people say the craziest things about them, they have no hate in their hearts, only love and understanding.
“We wish peace on everyone in the world (our little hate club included) and we send our blessings out to everyone and hope they all find their way in time. God Bless you all💫Onward and upward. ❤️Ninja + Yolandi,” ended the statement.
Watch the full video here: