The loopy sign-language interpreter from Nelson Mandela’s funeral has finally cashed in on his infamy and resurfaced as pitchman for a video-sharing app.
Thamsanqa Jantjie, who made international headlines by signing gibberish at Mandela’s memorial last year, is now telling viewers — verbally — to download an app made by Tel Aviv-based LiveLens.
“Hi, I’m Thamsanqa Jantjie from Nelson Mandela’s funeral,” he said in the YouTube ad. “Believe me, I’m a real professional sign language interpreter. I’m really, really sorry for what happened. Now I want to make it up to the whole world.”
He went on to say: “Introducing LiveLens, an app that allows you to broadcast live to your friends and your followers. Remember, the most interesting things happen live.”
The spot made light of Jantjie’s Mandela antics and even showed a clip of him signing for President Obama’s address.
As Obama told mourners, “Your democracy will be [Mandela’s] legacy,” Jantjie was actually signing, “Cigarettes share hand me the scissors,” according to the ad.
Jantjie has admitted to suffering from schizophrenia and said he was hallucinating during Mandela’s memorial.
LiveLens spokesman Max Bluvband said his company picked Jantjie to mock the worst live performance in world history.
“Since LiveLens is an app that allows you easily to stream your ‘life moments’ live to all your friends and followers simultaneously from your mobile, we were seeking someone who was the worst presenter ever of live shows,” Bluvband told Huffington Post UK.
“Clearly, Thamsanqa Jantjie is answering this criteria. People stop to watch car crashes.”