Tag: social media trolls

  • Why flaunt class by inviting privileged women on a live show to get pedicures?

    Why flaunt class by inviting privileged women on a live show to get pedicures?

    Once again, Pakistani television shows fail to understand how elitism in their content disconnects them from their audiences.

    Nida Yasir has time and time again been called out by the internet for using her show ‘Good Morning Pakistan’ to promote misogynist, sexist content and giving platforms to abusers, but her recent episode has sparked outrage for mocking salon workers. This morning’s episode featured the host along side five other public figures including television presenter Nadia Khan, who were invited for an hour-long pedicure while they all talked about completely random things.

    In the beginning of the episode, Nida Yasir said the purpose of this segment was to invite her friends, and in a way encourage every woman out there to take some time out for themselves. But through out the episode, we can see that it is only elite women who share Nina’s stature and can afford to find the time to get pampered and massaged, but working class women like salon workers are forced to work for long hours without any regard for their mental health. Because by the end of the day, it is these women who need to make a living and cannot afford to take time off from their jobs, even if it means being forced to sit in uncomfortable positions to massage the feet of elite women for an hour and a half.

    During this one hour and 30 minute painful watch, Nida Yasir and her friends gloat about their love for saris, their foreign trips, their beauty tips, while the women toiling away at their feet cannot afford such luxuries

    .We have to ask what was the purpose of this show? Is Nida Yasir aware that most women who are fans of her show aren’t able to afford luxuries like finding time to party with their friends, while ignoring all of their household responsibilities, considering most of them can relate to the struggles of the salon workers.

    Nida Yasir could have interviewed salon workers and asked them about finding time to pamper themselves, but instead she chose to mock them, and other working class women in such a demeaning manner.

    Twitter Tamkenat began the conversation by slamming the episode. Taking to her Twitter account, the content creator wrote:

    “Morning show on ARY digital right now, where elite privileged women are getting live pedicures on tv, while discussing how disgusted they were by their body hair as teenagers.”

    Soon this led to others to criticise the morning show host and ARY for thinking such content is acceptable.

  • ‘I don’t regret what I said’: Actress Mehar Bano reflects on controversial 2021 viral video

    ‘I don’t regret what I said’: Actress Mehar Bano reflects on controversial 2021 viral video

    Actress Mehar Bano appeared as a guest on Samaa news’ ‘Had Kar Di’ where she opened up about her viral 2021 video from Aurat March where she was seen defending gay rights. The video led to extensive backlash, with Mehar Bano receiving a lot of hate on social media. She has been open about how she sought therapy to deal with suicidal thoughts.

    Reflecting on the video, Mehar Bano revealed she did not regret what she had said, but feels she could have conveyed her words in a more understandable manner.

    “I don’t regret anything that I said. After the backlash I felt that maybe I should have worded things differently. Maybe the things I had tried to say regarding Aurat March, it wasn’t communicated well to the audience.

    “Whatever happened it was a learning experience for me,” Mehar Bano addded, “and I continued to learn from everything that happens around me and everything that I do.”

  • Deepika finally responds to criticism of Koffee with Karan interview

    Deepika continues to live her best life while living rent free in the minds of haters.

    A few weeks back, Deepika and Ranveer raised eyebrows with their ‘Koffee With Karan’ interview where the two revealed they casually dated for a couple of months before getting engaged. The ‘Om Shanti Om’ actress recalled ending an abusive relationship not ready for a serious commitment. The two actors, therefore, kept seeing other people while dating each other. After the two got engaged, they decided to remain a monogamous couple.

    Deepika became the target of sexist jokes, and claims that she cheated on Ranveer during their relationship. Now, during an interview with Vogue India, the actress has declared she is past the point of letting trolls dictate her opinions.

    “When I feel really strongly or passionately about something, I don’t think twice about expressing myself. I’ve grown to become this person where I’m not afraid of speaking my truth or owning up to mistakes. I’m not afraid of saying sorry,” Deepika responded, as according to Mashable India.

    While social media users had Deepika’s back to protect her from the naysayers, the industry did as well. Host of ‘Koffee With Karan’, Karan Johar, did a livestream where he addressed the criticism over Deepika’s comment, and shut down her critics.

    “Do what you need to do because no one’s looking,” responded the celebrated director according to The Hindustan Times. “Trolling gets you nowhere. You are landing nowhere.”

  • Mahira weds and the biggest, saddest debate on social: who has more money – her husband or her?

    Mahira weds and the biggest, saddest debate on social: who has more money – her husband or her?

    Pakistan’s sweetheart Mahira Khan has officially married her long-term partner Salim Karim over the weekend. Short snippets we received of the ceremony showed it was an emotional moment for the bride and groom, who could be seen shedding tears as Mahira walked down the altar, looking mesmerising in ivory.

    We’re incredibly happy for her, and we will keep championing women finding their happily ever after- but it seems like the Pakistani instinct to crush any woman in love remains ever present like some disease. Because we can’t fathom the idea that a woman could marry for love, right? Itna rata tou Pakistani dramas ko dekh kar lagwa liya hai.

    A tweet has gained a lot of traction on X (formerly Twitter) where a user shared the unverified net worth of Mahira’s husband Salim- which totaled up to $1 million dollars, claiming that the actress got married for the sake of money rather than love.

    “So in the end, its all about money. Larkooo!! Paise kamao ….” the user wrote.

    Why would the biggest actress of Pakistan- who is also an ambassador for international brands like Lux- want to marry for money? Mahira doesn’t even star in most of the biggest projects currently airing in Pakistan, yet she makes international headlines because of a small snippet from her wedding. The math is not mathing here.

    Why did we feel so necessary to write a long piece slamming this insensitive tweet, since we have lives as well? Because this isn’t just something Mahira alone has faced. Countless women in Pakistan are scrutinised for marrying of their own accord, or even being happy in their marriages because on a regular basis they are met with gossip mongers’ who assume these women married for money. But these women and Mahira are not being targetted because of money- it’s because our ghulami mindset mulk can’t imagine a woman being this happy on her wedding day and being in love with a man. It doesn’t sit right with Pakistanis that a woman is miserable since she has been bound for life to another man, and Mahira isn’t.

    Mahira Khan is a woman who is completely self-made, did not rely on any man to build up her career, and then went on to travel the entire world on her own while being a single mother. A woman living her life on her own terms, choosing to get married in her forties and doing so while having been married previously and also having a son? Not something easy to swallow for a Pakistani man.

    Our mard hazarat can’t settle on the prospect that any woman can be financially secure and choose who she wants to marry, since our cultural upbringing teaches us it is men who can be the sole providers and women must depend on them for survival so therefore, marriage is done purely on the basis of financial security, not for love or comfort. But here is a woman marrying someone she was in a relationship with for a while, and shattering this stereotype while looking phenomenal on her wedding. Clearly the knee-jerk reaction is to assume Mahira is a gold digger, right?

    Have social media users learned about the concept of leaving other people’s private business alone? It is not Mahira’s job to justify to you why she chose to get married, and it clearly is no one’s business to make assumptions about such a thing. Rather than fixating on whether an actress had any ulterior motives behind marrying, focus this much energy on your own life because trust us- by the end of the day Mahira will keep outshining her haters and so will every other woman who laughed away on her wedding.

    No woman owes any one explanations about her personal life, and we hope Mahira keeps on living rent-free in the minds of haters.

  • ‘I’m not bothered’: Bipasha Basu responds to body shamers on post-pregnancy weight gain

    ‘I’m not bothered’: Bipasha Basu responds to body shamers on post-pregnancy weight gain

    Bipasha being the diva she is will continue to remain unbothered by nay-sayers trying to dim her light.

    The 2000’s IT girl and her husband Karan Singh Groven recently announced they became parents for the first time to a baby girl. But ever since the actress made public appearances after the birth of her child, she was ruthlessly criticised by social media trolls due to the weight gained.

    Now in an interview with News 18, the ‘Jism’ actress had responded to the bullying with a smirk: “I would like to tell them to please keep trolling. It’s completely fine because I’m not bothered.” Her husband Karan chimed in saying: “As long as they’re watching us, it is okay.”

    Bipasha’s daughter Devi, was born through an IVF procedure, and the actress gave a heart tugging revelation three days later that her daughter was born with three holes in her heart. She spoke about how her priorities had completely changed after her daughter’s birth, and was only concerned with Devi’s health:

    “Devi’s my number one when it comes to everything and anything. Whether my eyes are open or shut, it’s always her. Every time I step out, I just want to run back home and be with her. Everything in my life now revolves around her… Karan is number three, I’m number two and Devi is number one. As for Karan, not much has changed. Prod him further and he jokes, ‘I’m a slave who used to have one master. Now I’ve two masters and I’m still a slave.’ So, nothing much has changed for me.”

    Speaking about her experience of motherhood, the ‘Race’ actress acknowledged that her journey was different from any other normal parent, and said in sharing her experience she hoped other women out there stop shaming themselves to think they’re bad mothers:

    “Our journey has been very different from any normal mother-father, it has been a lot tougher than the smile that I have on my face right now. I would not wish this to happen to any mother. For a new mother, when you get to know that… I got to know on the third day of my having a baby that our baby is born with two holes in her heart. I thought I’ll not share this, but I’m sharing this because I feel that there are a lot of mothers, who helped me in this journey, and it was very difficult to find those mothers…”

  • ‘Leave her alone’: fans defend Sehar Khan after trolls mock her once more over viral clip

    ‘Leave her alone’: fans defend Sehar Khan after trolls mock her once more over viral clip

    Maybe its time we stopped over piling on actresses for mistakes they admit to?

    ‘Fairy Tale’ actress Sehar Khan came under fire a few days ago when a clip went viral from her interview with Something Haute. The actress was seen speaking about wanting to play roles similar to Priyanka Chopra’s “psychopath” role in Bollywood film ‘Barfi’. Her comments were slammed by social media users who pointed out that Priyanka’s character Jhilmil is autistic. However, the actress was quick to apologise in a detailed Twitter thread, admitting that she should have expressed herself better.

    “In a recent interview I meant to say I want to do a role of a differently abled person but due to slip of tongue, I mistakenly said something else. I should have gathered my thoughts before answering the question to express myself better.”

    “Mental disabilities and special needs are a very important matter,” continued Sehar. “And I have immense respect for people who are dealing with them; hence I apologize if I unintentionally hurt anyone.”

    But soon after this 2 Instagram influencers Aadi Adeal Amjad and Naveed Raza mocked the newcomer actress by recreating the viral clip, and fans slammed them for bullying Sehar after she had apologised.

    Many pointed out that the 23-year-old actress, who has stepped into limelight because of ‘Fairy Tale’, shouldn’t be trolled over her English skills.

    Others said that this sort of behavior reeks of the sexist trolling many female celebrities face when they reach the peak of their careers. An X user shared a clip from Mashion’s Actors Roundtable where Mahira Khan talked about female actors being brought down by audiences over small things, leading to them doubting themselves and their success.

    In the gist of all of this, we’d like trolls to remember that before rushing to pile on an actress, remember that Sehar Khan is still a newcomer, and someone who has already expressed regret at the ableist comment. Also, direct your energy towards dramas that are promoting domestic abuse and child marriages to actually bring about some change within the industry.

  • Mariam Ansari is not okay with holier-than-thou comments on her pregnancy shoot

    Mariam Ansari is not okay with holier-than-thou comments on her pregnancy shoot

    Kuch behtar nahi hai apni zindagi mein karne kay liye than to think that a happy pregnant woman is doing something wrong with her life?

    Pakistanis are used to watching unhappy women both on screens and in their lives. When they watch a woman celebrating a pregnancy or being happy in her marriage, they see it as a sign that she needs to be reminded of how miserable life actually is.

    When actress Mariam Ansari shared pictures of her pregnancy shoot announcing the birth of her daughter, several commentators were overjoyed and congratulated the couple. Then there were those who thought qayamat has started early because a woman shared her baby bump on the internet.

    There were A LOT of absurd comments shaming the actress for sharing pictures of her baby bump, a normal thing every woman goes through. Like this one cynic wrote:

    “Allah ko kia muh Deko ge behn Kuch cheze prde mei ache lgte he tm log ku apna Deen khrb kr rhe ho behaye phla rhe ho kuch shrm kro Allah se dro.”

    Pregnancy is a natural, beautiful thing that happens to every woman, baji. Wo kya gunah kar rahi hai kay wo isko chupa kar rakhay?

    Mariam eventually responded with a video where she slammed the haters in a video, expressing her frustration at the unnecessary hate piled on to her for simply sharing pictures of her baby bump:

     “Oh my god, the amount of hate I have received on my pregnancy pictures just shows…what do I even say? What do I say?”

     “It’s my profile; my choice. I’ve even had my child. It’s my choice whatever I post. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t follow me. I don’t understand, since when is being pregnant some sort of badtameezi or behayai. You too were born just like this, so what?”

    The actress also pointed out how hypocrtical Pakistani society was:

     “You’ll watch Katrina Kaif dance, you’ll ‘like’ Nora’s pictures. But if a Pakistani actress who is fully dressed reveals her pregnancy, then, ‘oh my god, Astaghfirullah.’ I mean, if you were really all that great and you saw someone was pregnant, you’d congratulate them; you’d send prayers their way.”

    Sending our prayers and congratulations to Mariam and her husband for their bundle of joy, and honestly we hope Pakistani society could learn some manners and stop poking their hypocritical noses into anyone’s business.

  • Vasay Chaudhry apologises for ‘overseas Pakistani’ joke on Mazaaq Raat

    Vasay Chaudhry apologises for ‘overseas Pakistani’ joke on Mazaaq Raat

    A clip from the Dunya News comedy show ‘Mazaaq Raat’ featuring model and actress Sarah Neelum went viral on social media.

    Neelum was seen mocking overseas Pakistanis for pretending to be well-established and wealthy in Pakistan, while they are actually washing toilets abroad.

    The clip received severe backlash from overseas Pakistanis. One user wrote:

    “This unknown model on national television is claiming that overseas Pakistanis clean gutters abroad and come to Pakistan to show off by wearing cotton clothes. Meanwhile, these very overseas Pakistanis contribute $32 million through their hard work abroad.”

    Actor Shaan Shahid was among the voices who critcised Neelum’s opinion:

    “Our overseas Pakistanis .. from all walks of life are our pride .. none should show disrespect .. towards them .. as the country and we the nation owe them much more than respect .. as their sacrifices are beyond words.. much respect.”

    The host of the comedy show, Vasay Chaudhry, stepped in to apologise for the tasteless joke by calling it a “ridiculous comment”.

    “I want to publicly apologise on behalf of my whole team at #Mazaqraat ,a very stupid,Vile & ridiculous comment was made recently abt overseas’s Pakistani’s by one of the guests in our show which was followed up by an attmepted joke by one of the comedians(again in bad taste).”

    The ‘Punjab Nahi Jaugni’ actor further added:

    “A formal apology will be aired in tonight’s episode. However , I wanted to personally apologise to all the Pakistanis living abroad.We Love you , even though you might not feel the same at this point, but ” ghalatiaan apnoo say he hoti hain.”

  • There are better things in life to talk about than Naimal Khawar’s alleged nose job

    There are better things in life to talk about than Naimal Khawar’s alleged nose job

    Social media can be a blessing because of how it is able to bring people together regardless of their background. It provides people with an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals. But we have to admit that the downside of social media -particularly in regard to how women on the internet are openly criticised and trolled- is something that cannot be overlooked. Mahira Khan was attacked online for not wearing a dupatta, and now Naimal Khawar is getting trolled after people assumed the actress had gotten a nose job.

    Pakistani women exist in an invisible cage that follows them to their graves. They are a vessel of opinions other people have about them, and have no say in how they choose to live their own lives. Men tend to perceive Pakistani women as their personal nannies, therapists and full time mothers. In the particular case of Naimal Khawar, its amazing how entitled babus on the internet have so much to say about a woman who is financially independent and has a caring and attentive husband and family.

    What had led to such a vicious response? The actress had merely posted pictures of herself next to some flowers, which led to some trolls making heinous comments about how her alleged nose job made her face look different.

    Like seriously, the comments section really proves how as Pakistanis, misery is the flag we love to wave. We cannot remain happy, therefore we cannot see other people happy.

    I’m sorry but did Naimal Khawar personally reach out to you for money even if she had gotten a surgery? Why would you feel so entitled to make such negative comments about a woman’s face? Why do Pakistanis feel that making hideous remarks about women’s bodies passes is acceptable? Naimal Khawar has not survived so many years in a competitive industry solely because of her looks, but because she is a talented person. She owes no one an explanation about how she chooses to live.

    Trying to justify your body shaming by using the religion card? Didn’t Islam also tell us to keep our opinions to ourself, and to never open our mouth if we have to make a mean comment about someone? In a country like Pakistan where already 75 per cent people suffer from mental illnesses like depression, could we try to understand that, now more than ever, women need to stop pilling on hate on each other, and help by being a little kind and compassionate?

    By the end of the day, we simply have to say that take your rules and restrictions away from the bodies of Pakistani women. Naimal Khawar is her own person. She can decide by herself what she wants with her life, whether she chooses to go under the knife or not. It’s all about what makes her feel more secure in her body. For the rest of us, there are more things to worry about while living in Pakistan rather than taking it out on a woman who has nothing to do with it.

    If you’re still having a problem in undestanding how to possibly mind your business and manage not to tear down a happy person, then take a note from Mathira, who manages to keep a classy and cool persona by uplifting people when they need it the most.

  • ‘Look who’s talking’: Twitter has no patience for Salman Khan’s hypocrisy on women’s clothes

    Bollywood star Salman Khan is no stranger to controversy and scandals, but it now seems like the aging lothario has forgotten his past.

    The ‘Kisi Ka Bhai, Kisi Ki Jaan’ actor was speaking at Rajat Sharma’s show ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ where he defended his rule that women on the sets of his films couldn’t wearing plunging necklines. The superstar said that women’s bodies are precious and it was boys who have bad intentions:

    “It’s not a matter of girls, it’s about the boys. The way they look at girls, at your sister, wife or mother, I do not like it. So, I do not want them to go through this.”

    When asked about whether this statement imposes double standards by blaming women for their harassment, the actor responded:

    “There is no double standard in it. I feel that a woman’s body is a lot more precious, the more that is covered, the better, I feel.”

    Twitter users have slammed Khan’s comments as degrading and sexist for blaming women once more for the actions of men.

    Many had to point out that Khan had a lot of skeletons in his closet to go and preach modesty to women, by printing out receipts of the actor’s history of abusing ex-girlfriends.