Reports were suggesting that Nelson Mandela’s Memorial Signer was crazy, and those reports may be true as it has been confirmed that the signer was placed in a mental institution after he allegedly made false movements when signing during the event.
Thamsanqa Jantjie explained what happened during the memorial and tried to explain why he lost it. He claimed that during that day he was sick as a result of working for more than 14 hours interpreting.
He went ahead to say that the incident was a blessing in disguise as now people recognize sign language in a country that never did before, as the president introduced sign language as an official language.
Word has it, he is now helping people with disabilities and also reports state that CEO Max Bluvhand has hired Jantjie to be a pitchman for the video-sharing app, LiveLens.
Mr Jantjie has been undergoing treatment at a psychiatric clinic since the incident but reportedly filmed the new ad while on day release.
In the video, for a new app by Israeli company LiveLens, he introduces himself as “Thamsanqa Jantjie from Nelson Mandela’s funeral”.
Clips of the memorial service are shown with a voice-over translating his sign language, including a part that says “hand me the scissors” during Mr Obama’s speech.
In an apparent parody of a press conference, he apologizes for “what happened” before saying he does campaigns for money and parodying an Old Spice ad.
When he finally starts describing what the app does, broadcasting videos, he is “decapitated” in a visual effect and blood is seen spurting from his headless torso.
The advert finishes with him dancing alone in a corner of the screen.
LiveLens has been criticized for exploiting a vulnerable person and many members of the deaf community took to Twitter to raise concerns about disability being trivialized.
Bluvhand referred to him as a good guy though he is the guy that did the worst live show ever, according to him.
You can check out the app’s commercial below.
