Yizo Yizo star claims “actors landing roles after sleeping with producers”

SOUTH AFRICA – Actor Dumisani Khumalo, who gained acclaim for portraying Sticks on the classic drama series Yizo Yizo, has described the SA TV industry as dirty, as some actors have to give sexual favours to producers to get roles.

Khumalo is the latest high-profile actor to speak on the shady “deals” on South African TV, after the “Open up the Industry Movement,” which gained traction on social media a few years back, highlighted how only a few actors seemed to get roles on the small screen in Mzansi.

In an interview with TshisaLive, Khumalo said that the only way for a talented actor or actress to crack the South African industry was to sleep with someone.

“I’m not backing down on anything. This industry is dirty, and one day talent will vanish. For a talented actor to land a deal on TV, they need to sleep with someone from behind the scenes,” he said angrily.

“The industry is no longer the same. We hear certain actors on TV have landed roles after sleeping with certain producers, hence you see the same faces everywhere.

“It is sad that we have talented people but they are nowhere close to the screen. They go to auditions but at the end they need to sacrifice something or offer their bodies to secure certain commercial advertisements and TV roles,” he said.

Sticks, said he had been nurturing some budding actors but many had been forced to abandon their dreams because of the brutality of the industry.

“I have a group of kids and I nurture their talent with efforts for them to land on TV, but auditions are so brutal. Kids end up abandoning their dreams, and start to smoke drugs due to the ills in the entertainment industry and sacrificing.

“You see a person who got a first shot on TV as a presenter. A few months later that person is acting, a few weeks later they’re a musician.

“Later that same person is a DJ. The whole industry is talentless except for this person who does everything on TV. Sometimes watching TV hurts me.”