On Monday, a twitter handle in the name of Australian model Lara Worthington, also known as Lara Bingle, accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former cricketer Imran Khan of sexual harassment.
However, Lara has a verified Twitter handle by the name Lara Worthington, active since August 2010. But, the account spreading the rumour is using the name Lara Bingle, created in August 2017.
1/2 Harvey Weinstein is nowhere near Pakistan’s Imran Khan whom I met in June 2013 in London. Imran Khan sexually harassed me at a party. pic.twitter.com/e9uvcmCF3a
— Lara Bingle (@larabingIe) October 16, 2017
“1/2 Harvery Weinstein is nowhere near Pakistan’s Imran Khan whom I met in June 2013 in London. Imran Khan sexually harassed me at a party,” came the first tweet from the fake handle.
2/2 It left me in shock. Imran Khan is a womanizer. I’m glad I never met him again. We women need to stay away from men like him& Weinstein. pic.twitter.com/MOgCFi3p1A
— Lara Bingle (@larabingIe) October 16, 2017
“2/2 It left me in shock. Imran Khan is a womanizer. I’m glad I never met him again. We women need to stay away from men like him & Weinstein,” is the second tweet. The tweets are also attached with a photo of Lara and Imran together.
Without confirming whether the handle was verified or not, many followers swallowed the bait and started abusing Imran. However, most of them were quick to figure out that it was not Lara’s original Twitter account.
Moreover, the fake account also has a good number of followers, and the defaming tweets on Imran got retweeted many times. There has been no response from either Imran or Lara on the tweets from the fake account.
Many supporters of Imran Khan rubbished the tweets, calling it an attempt to defame Imran. Comparing the cricketer with Harvey, who is accused of sexually harassing many actresses, certainly irked many Pakistanis.