Accused bogus sign language interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie came forward to explain why he faked the entire Mandela memorial on Tuesday. He told the Johannesburg Star that he was basically buggin.' "There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation. I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on."
Jantjie went on to say that he was taking medication for schizophrenia, despite later singing a different tune on a talk radio show by saying, "Absolutely, absolutely. I think that I've been a champion of sign language."
A little funny. Super disrespectful.
Millions of people from across the globe witnessed Jantjie interpreting Tuesday at Mandela's memorial service, but South Africa's leading deaf association called him a phony the very next day. Adding fact to insult, they said he was making up signs. Aside from the embarrassingly lackadaisical security at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, how was a fraud able to get so close to some of the most powerful people in the world? People are especially aggravated after Thamsanqa alluded to being violent in the past. When asked by The Associated Press how often he had become violent in the past, he declined to provide details, simply saying, "A lot."
