It was no laughing matter when social media comedian Ikie Botha was robbed of his cellphone while driving his car.
The Waffles and Mo star says the incident took place last week when a skelm reached through an open window and grabbed the phone out of his hand.
But the joker says despite being “deeply traumatised” by the experience, he found it to be a blessing in disguise.
He says on Saturday while stopping at a red light on the corner of Robert Sobukwe and 35th Street near Bishop Lavis, he checked his phone’s GPS for directions to his gig.
The 34-year-old from Heideveld says he got a skrik when a skelm suddenly snatched the four-year-old Huawei P9 Lite out of his hand.
Ikie is known for skits on social media and recently started doing his solo videos where he provides funny content to 165k followers on Facebook, 54k on Tiktok, Instagram 17k and stays relevant by posting videos about thrice a week.
“ After breaking away from Waffles and Mo, I do dancing videos on a Friday to get people in the weekend mood, working from home funny scenarios, comedic angle on lgbtq+ issues (because Im part of the community) and every Wednesday I do a live chat called Truly Live on my Facebook page.”
Ikie says he wasnt gonna let his phone go without a fight.
“I saw the dief wasn’t armed so I got out of my car and chased him but at this time, another man came chasing me with a brick and so I had to get back into my car and drive off.”
Ikie says he is aware that the intersection is a hotspot for crime but says having no air conditioning in his car forced him to roll down the window.
“It was very hot on Saturday and I had the windows down to keep cool.
“That’s how the thief got his hand in my window.”
But he says the incident was a blessing in disguise as he now has a brand-new phone to replace his old faithful.
“Met my nuwe phone gaan my video en picture quality beter wees, ek is nogal excited dat die mense al my puisies gaan sien want hulle dink mos ek is mooi,” he jokes.
@whatsupwithikie Jy wiet mos wat sê hulle 😂 (only some will understand 🙈) #Tandjies #fyp #foryoupage #tiktoksa #comedy #gay #gayjokes #lgbtq ♬ original sound - Whatsup with ikie
He says although Ravensmead cops helped him look for the skurk, he decided not to open a case as he no longer had his old phone’s box with the IMEI number on it.