Farewell to ‘South Africa’s Chuck Norris’

I was sad to find out that Vernon Koekemoer, real name Cassie Booyse, had died at the age of 67.

If you are of a certain age Vernon formed a part of most of our lives after going viral before we even really had a term for the phenomenon. This after having been photographed in his shorts, sleeveless top with his muscular arms sticking out, platform tekkies, and his mullet hairstyle at the H2O music festival in Boksburg back in 2008. Vernon became so popular for the short time that he lived his “15-minutes of fame” that he became known as South Africa’s version of Chuck Norris at a time when the American martial arts hardman was the subject of numerous jokes focused on how tough he was. Never a company to be caught napping, Nandos capitalized on that description of Vernon that they featured him and a (not very convincing) Chuck Norris-type cowboy in this advert:

He also released an album of dance songs called “Electro Killers – putting the OU back in Electro”.

Sadly in real life though no-one is a tough as a made-up persona and Booyse had been struggling with ill health stemming from a series of failed hip operations and infections. Reportedly bedridden for about 2 years, recent photos of Vernon show a frail, sickly man rather than the part-time bodybuilder we had all come to know him as, but still with a steely determination in his eyes.

Rest in Peace Vernon, I hope you’re partying it up at the big EDM festival in the sky.