South African Court Issues Gag Order Against Puppet(eer) For Tweets Issuing From Puppet’s Account

A South African court has told puppeteer Conrad Koch to keep his puppet, Chester Missing, quiet on the subject of Steve Hofmeyr. Chester has been tweeting from his personal account comments about Mr. Hofmeyr that Mr. Hofmeyr considers racism; Chester considers Mr. Hofmeyr’s behavior racist. The court, apparently not disturbed at all by whether the puppet has rights, has granted Mr. Hofmeyr’s request for a gag order, telling Mr. Koch that Chester must not mention Mr. Hofmeyr in his tweets. Mr. Koch says he will challenge the order in court at the end of November. Meanwhile, some companies, including Woolworth’s, seem to be disassociating themselves from Mr. Hofmeyr. 

Commentary and coverage here from Eyewitness News (South Africa).