Yarona FM P5m suit against Robbie Rob today
Sharon Mathala | Monday July 10, 2023 09:01
In the middle of the warring sides are the rights to the popular Yarona FM Music Awards dubbed the YAMAs. However, in this particular case, the youthful radio station is suing its former morning show host for defamation.
The defamation, according to the 106.6 dial emanates from a social media post authored by Daniel Dan Kenosi back in January 2019 where he said: "The plaintiff (Yarona FM) was facing legal action by the defendant (Robbie Rob) that the defendant wanted the plaintiff to stop using the 'YAMAs' trademark logo". According to Yarona FM court papers, the post was accompanied by the prominent figure of Yarona FM, stating that the YAMAs were initiated by Robbie Rob, "and further that the plaintiff bullied the defendant off the awards".
In building its defamation suit, the youthful station famous for its slogan 'Live The Music' further said the matter between Robbie Rob and the radio station was much like the drawn-out legal tussle dubbed the 'Vodacom Please Call Me saga' "where someone in South Africa had claimed that the phone company had misappropriated his invention," further reads court documents.
The station further said that because of this, its supporters believed that there was going to be a postponement of the said awards in that particular year. The relationship between the two started back in 1999 when Robbie Rob was hired as an on-air personality.
Robbie Rob, who later left the station and ventured into business, then returned to Yarona FM to host the station's iconic morning show dubbed 'The Feel Good Foundation' alongside Brando Keabilwe.
The pair, self-styled as 'Stupid 1' and 'Stupid 2', was later dramatically fired from their morning slot. Things, however, took a dramatic turn when Robbie Rob sued Yarona FM and interdicted the awards.
Then, the station denied that the YAMAs belong to Robbie Rob. Papers filed then cited, "The plaintiff (Yarona FM) discussed the model with the first defendant (Robbie Rob).
He proposed to work with the station and a working model was agreed. This idea was discussed at the board level and the board was not interested in hiring anyone to carry out the show for whom they would pay large amounts of money whether the show made money or not.
The first defendant agreed to work on a profit-sharing model not a guaranteed fee."
Robbie Rob denies the defamation suit against him.