Ahmed Butt clarifies the controversial dwarfism act at LSA

Lux Style Awards 2016 offered its viewers plenty of incredible moments from the country’s entertainment fraternity.

Ali Zafar danced and sang his way through an epic performance as the opening act, Yasir Hussain had us in splits with his comedic routine and the show’s tribute to Amjad Sabri was pure gold.

However, the LSAs were peppered with plenty of misses too.

Notable among was when Ahmed Ali Butt one of the most sought after entertainers in the Pakistani industry landed himself in hot water during the Lux Style Awards for an act that he carried out.

Ahmed while hosting a fun segment, called out on Jeena (Ayesha Rao Khan), a character from Mann Mayal who persistently seeks sympathy during the show. The character of Jeena‘s parents was played by two dwarf actors on stage.

This was clearly on Ahmed Ali Butt’s mind when he wondered out loud who Jeena’s parents actually were. And lo and behold, as an answer to that question, he called two little persons onstage for some banter.

Many strongly felt that Ahmed was disrespectful towards the dwarf community and made fun of them. However, Ahmed took to social media and slammed those offended by the act.

So this morning our beloved media published an article regarding my segment at LSA16 which featured two dwarfs and apparently its now being perceived as offensive. Here are my two cents on the matter, the segment was designed to make fun of Jeena’s character and why is she so popular. At no point in my script or act (as you will see when its telecast) did I make fun of my fellow dwarf actors as the joke was directed towards Jeena. So just to highlight those who are judging us on this please be advised that my fellow dwarf actors are professional actors who perform for a living and were doing the same on this platform! I’m sure you have always supported the “dwarf” community by giving them work, right? (I’m being sarcastic incase you get offended here also) So if my fellow actors didn’t get offended, and Ayesha Khan aka Jeena didn’t get offended and just the visual of seeing dwarf actors on stage made you judge us than the problem lies with your perception of dwarfs. I am always aware of what I write, perform and being an actor and host I am supportive of my community let them be dwarf, black, white, tall or even disabled. What matters is that they are passionate about their work and make a decent living out of it – that is called being inclusive in my eyes – and to give them a chance to work on a scale such as LSA is giving them recognition to showcase their talent. It is very easy to sit and write a social media status or article on how this and that offended you or a specific community but if that really did offend you then get up and do something about helping these people they don’t want your charity or sympathy – they just want to work and showcase their talent! #lsa2016 #15thluxstyleawards #openyoureyes

A photo posted by Ahmad Ali (@ahmedalibutt) on Jul 30, 2016 at 7:25am PDT

The former EP band member expressed how the segment was drafted only to make fun of Jeena’s character and there was no joke directed towards his fellow dwarf actors.

He also clarified that those actors are professionals and if none of the onstage performers got offended then the problem lies within one’s perception.

Ahmed closed his note by saying that if you genuinely feel ‘offended’ by something then you should work towards helping them rather than merely sympathising.