Sadaf Kanwal vs #MeToo

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Award-winning model Sadaf Kanwal recently sparked outrage when she shared her thoughts on the #MeToo movement on a recent talk show. Her comments on the matter have invited distaste and disapproval from far and wide. However, there have been some who have jumped to the model’s defence.

It all began when Sadaf made an appearance on fashion designer, Hassan Shehryar Yasin’s talkshow, Tonite with HSY,with fellow model Amna Ilyas.

When the host asked about her thoughts on the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, Sadaf replied, “You know aap ke saath Me too jab ho, tab boldo. Baad mai aap ko yaad araha hai metoo, So I think jab ho boldo. (When you encounter a MeToo incident, say it then. Why are you remembering it later? I think you should speak about it when it happens.)”

She continued, “Agar mere saath #MeToo kabhi hua tou mai bolungi na. Aur main social media pe nahi bolungi main aap sab ko bataungi (If I ever have a #MeToo incident, I would say it. And I won’t just say it on social media. I’d tell all of you.)”

While, we’re not sure what the model-actress was trying to imply, her comments did not go down well with the public as well as the members of the entertainment industry.

Meesha Shafi, who earlier accused fellow actor Ali Zafar of sexually harassing her, was one the first to comment on the matter.

“Strong eyebrows.. do not a strong backbone make. Pfffft,” she wrote on Twitter, taking a dig at Sadaf who is recognised for her bushy, thick eyebrows.

Some people called out HSY for “endorsing these people.”

However, Yasin defended himself saying that “Peoples intellect are their own. What they want to say is up to them. It’s their opinion. Please stop making this about the show. It’s not. It’s about the answers you’re hearing or not hearing. Your disappointment seems, in my opinion, to be misdirected.”

In another tweet he wrote, “That’s her opinion. That’s a thing everyone, including you, have a right to. That does not mean it’s mine.”

PR mogul, Fahad Hussain who has launched several popular faces in the industry defended the 25-year-old model by by throwing a major shade on Meesha Shafi.

“Strong eyebrows, even stronger backbone!,” he wrote on social media.

Hussain went onto share Sadaf’s long and difficult journey to stardom, saying that, “Some people who in the past said that they would never work with her are the same people who begged her to work with them just because of her gradual shot to fame.”

On her comments on #MeToo, Hussain said, “She was not asked to be politically correct so she added a little humor to her replies which was blown out of proportion.”

He clarified Sadaf’s statements saying, “All she was trying to say in her interview was that if someone has gone through a dilemma then they should fight back asap. Maybe it came off as something completely different. She never meant to hurt any sentiments. She was trying to say that one should fight back before the negative feeling takes over and a person has no energy to do so. She did not say one should not take a stand, she said the sooner the better.”

Hussain requested fans and readers to not blow the thing further out of proportion and not ridicule the model.

He signed off, writing, “Sadaf Kanwal, you are a fighter and a real person. Do not let these negative comments bring you down, they never did in the past, nor shall they do so in the future. More power to you girl.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn7qXduh8Gk/?hl=en&taken-by=fahadcitrus

Sadaf, meanwhile, has not commented on the controversy as yet.

On the other hand, Ilyas had a different take on the issue. She said, “When you think it’s the right time you will speak up. Many people don’t have the strength to speak up at that moment. You need a lot of strength to say something like that.”