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Category: Entertainment

  • ‘Disgusted, outraged’: Kim Kardashian condemns Balenciaga’s controversial campaign with children

    ‘Disgusted, outraged’: Kim Kardashian condemns Balenciaga’s controversial campaign with children

    American reality television star Kim Kardashian is “re-evaluating” her relationship with Balenciaga after the luxury fashion brand was widely criticized for a campaign featuring children posing with teddy bears in what appeared to be bondage gear.

    “As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,” she said on Twitter. “The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”

    Last week, photos surfaced of a Balenciaga campaign that showed children holding teddy bears in leather gear resembling that used in BDSM, an abbreviation for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, and sadomasochism. One photo showed a child holding a bear that was dressed in wrist and ankle restraints with a lock and chain around its neck.

    Fashion house Balenciaga has been heavily criticised over a photoshoot showing child models posing with fetish-themed teddy bears. The shoot went viral, especially in the US among users who object to what they see as “over-sexualising” young children.

    As criticism built, a sarcastic tweet from YouTuber June Nicole Lapine gained a lot of traction and Balenciaga deleted all the images a short time later.

    After this, some right-wing US media channels ran with the story, and accused the fashion house of “endorsing child pornography”. The accusation was fuelled by the campaign for its Adidas collaboration featuring the case notes referring to “virtual child porn”.

    Balenciaga posted an apology to its 14 million Instagram followers and said its plush bear bags “should not have been featured with children”.

    It said it had removed the items from sale and deleted the images from all web platforms.

  • ‘Was uncomfortable with him even in KAM3’: Iqra Aziz speaks her heart out against Feroze Khan

    ‘Was uncomfortable with him even in KAM3’: Iqra Aziz speaks her heart out against Feroze Khan

    Actor Iqra Aziz in an Instagram post announced last month that she is retracting from a project with Feroze Khan after he was accused of domestic violence.

    “To stay silent in the face of injustice is to side with the oppressor.’ In lieu of the situation regarding domestic violence, I have made the difficult but necessary decision to retract my project with Feroze Khan as a sign of support for victims of domestic abuse. I support Aliza Sultan for seeking justice, more strength and power to you,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

    After Iqra’s announcement, her sister Sidra took to her social media handle to share details of Iqra’s decision-making process while opting out of the project.

    Feroze Khan
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gtgfyhtujy-1.jpg

    Now Iqra has opened up on her decision in a chat show, the Ranjha Ranjha Kardi diva said she simply was not comfortable working with him after he was accused of domestic violence by his wife Aliza Sultan. She said everyone has the right to choose how they want to work and who they want to work with.

    Aziz appeared on The Talk Talk Show and talked about her retraction. “For me, it was a very personal decision. I did what I thought was right for me and [it was] what I wanted to do, what according to me was the right choice. I took a decision — I wasn’t comfortable working with him, so I said no. I wasn’t waiting for anything to be proved to take action because, before that, there was a time in which we worked together (Khuda Aur Mohabbat 3) and I wasn’t comfortable with him during that so I said no this time.” she said.

    The host summarised her point saying that the bottom line is it’s okay for an actor to have the liberty to say no if they’re uncomfortable working with someone. “Of course!” Aziz responded. “I think that we live in an era where, whether it’s a woman or a man, working in this industry or anywhere, other than the choice of career, they have the right to say yes or no to however they want to work according to their comfort level and to who they’re comfortable working with.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI&t=1s

    The interviewer then asked her if her take would be any different if in the future the allegations proved to be false in court. “I think we have to wait for that time then. We can only decide that then, we can’t decide before time thinking what if this happens, just based on assumptions,” replied the Suno Chanda actor.

    When the host tried to dig into the matter some more, Aziz put a stop to it with an uncomfortable chuckle and asked him to leave it at that instead of delving deep into it.

  • Osman Khalid Butt hits out at trolls for calling him ‘bika hua’, slams Feroze Khan amidst controversy

    Osman Khalid Butt hits out at trolls for calling him ‘bika hua’, slams Feroze Khan amidst controversy

    Actor Osman Khalid Butt is always advocating for relevant topics, especially women rights and misogyny. The Baaji star came under scrutiny post his performance at LSA’22, where alleged domestic abuser Feroze Khan was awarded in the Best Actor category.

    I could not attend LSA If Feroze was there' says Osman Khalid Butt

    After his performance, he received a hefty amount of criticism for ‘siding with abusers’ about which, he has released a statement today that clears the air about his stance. He stated that he was contacted more than a week before the ceremony to perform and co-host a segment. At that time, nominations weren’t announced.

    ‘My only reservation, which I made clear before agreeing was that I could not attend, let alone perform at the ceremony if Feroze was present there (which has nothing to do with his acting prowess, and everything to do with the very serious allegations levied by his ex-wife), and I was assured that he would not. That commitment was honored.” He wrote.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI&t=3s

    He further elaborated that he got his hosting segment freed of ‘controversial nominations’.

    ‘I will continue to raise my voice: feminism is not a brand I wear, it is ingrained in my very being.’ He concluded.

    Earlier this year Osman clapped back to an age-shaming troll on his Instagram handle. The netizen took a dig at the Chupke Chupke star by stating that he has started to look like an “uncle.”

    The Diyar-e-Dil hero replied by saying, “Catching up to you, aren’t I?”.

    Last year, Butt shared a comment by Zahid Ahmed in which the latter said that Pakistani television is okay with showing violence but not intimacy, Butt received a message from a social media user who alleged that the actors use this as a “pathetic excuse to get physical with female actors”.

    “We can slap women on TV but can’t show intimacy,” Zahid had said in a recent interview. Osman shared his colleague’s statement with the caption: “Strange indeed.”

    Replying to Butt’s story, an Instagram user messaged: “Just a pathetic excuse to get physical with female actors. Not to mention the influence it has on society and especially on young children and teens.”

    Instead of ignoring the comment, Osman decided to school the troll explaining that “intimacy is just not sex”.

    “Yeah so reactions like this are wholly predictable,” said Butt.

    Elaborating further, the actor said: “First off: intimacy is not just sex. Secondly, I’d rather my child see a healthy intimate relationship between fictional spouses than, you know, physical abuse being normalized.”

    “The nerve to talk about ‘influence’,” he concluded.

    In a separate interview, while sharing where the desire to speak about women-related issues comes from Butt said: “Artists have a responsibility [to speak out] because art is very socially relevant, and I think good art creates empathy and empathy is required to bring [social] change.”

  • ‘Shaheer isn’t negative’: Syed Jibran reacts to backlash on his character in ‘Daraar’

    ‘Shaheer isn’t negative’: Syed Jibran reacts to backlash on his character in ‘Daraar’

    Actor Syed Jibran has cleared the air regarding his character in Geo Entertainment’s drama serial Daraar, in his recent interview with BBC.

    Jibran addressed his character by saying, “I feel like Shaheer is not a negative character. It is, in fact, very good that our stories have evolved in such a way that the traditional hero-heroine and villain situations are less common.”

    He added, “A character does not have to spread either good or bad. My character in Daraar is going with a similar story. He’s a great guy in the beginning but he is also troublesome later.”

    He further explained why he doesn’t think Shaheer is a problematic character. “Most of the time, when a man has any illicit relations with other women, he is not sincere with his wife and doesn’t pay attention to her. However, we have shown that Shaheer is a perfect husband and an ideal son-in-law. He’s a great brother but he is also very calculated with his acts. He can also be so cruel that his public image echoes perfection, but the vices and weaknesses in his personality also shape him.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI
  • Varun Dhawan opens up about crushing on Sania Mirza, reveals special moment with her

    Varun Dhawan opens up about crushing on Sania Mirza, reveals special moment with her

    Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan recently made a revelation about his former feelings for Tennis star Sania Mirza. The Judwaa 2 star stated that he had a huge crush Sania when he was a crew member on an ad film that featured Mirza.

    Varun recalled, “I was working for Mad Productions, Mukul Anand’s team and I was working on an ad that featured Sania Mirza. We had to get 300 shoes. I went to Linking Road and rented 300 shoes. I had this huge crush on Sania Mirza at the time. She asked me for an apple. And I got this apple.”

    He re-enacted the trembling he felt as he gave her mother the apple for Sania, and added, “I was giving her like I said Aunty… apple. Her mother thought I was crack or something. So she asked who told you to bring this apple?’ Luckily Sania came and said I want the apple. I got like ₹5000 for it, to get the shoes, and also maybe the apple.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI

    As of today, Varun is married to Natsaha Dalal, whereas Sania Mirza is hitched to Pakistani veteran cricketer Shoaib Malik.

    Who is Natasha Dalal? How she and Varun Dhawan met? This is the complete timeline of their relationship | GQ India
    Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza officially divorced now? - Daily Times

    The Badlapur star is currently promoting his horror-comedy film Bhediya, helmed by Amar Kaushik.

  • ‘Stop policing’: Sajal Aly, Adnan Siddiqui’s ‘war of words’ gets intense

    ‘Stop policing’: Sajal Aly, Adnan Siddiqui’s ‘war of words’ gets intense

    Actors Adnan Siddiqui and Sajal Ali indulged in a war of words with each other after Adnan expressed his issue with Shehzad Roy’s ‘remixed’ version of the National Anthem.

    On Thursday, the renowned musician Shehzad Roy performed a ‘remixed’ version of the National Anthem at the 21st Lux Style Awards.

    The anthem, which Roy produced to mark the 75th anniversary of Pakistan’s creation, features the lyrics as the original, but some of the more modern instruments used to create the melody were replaced with traditional ones.

    For Siddiqui, the performance was underwhelming to the point that he found the new version disrespectful.

    “It (National Anthem) is always played in the original rendition at matches, tournaments, and other state functions. At a famous award show, artists, however, fiddle with the National symbol and possibly get away with it too. Personally, I find ‘remix’ of the Tarana disrespectful.”

    Star-actor Sajal Ali disagreed with Adnan’s stance and shared her opinion on Instagram. She said the new version of the National Anthem was healing, and that it ‘reflected the values of our Constitution and remained true to the original anthem’.

    “As a Pakistani and an artist, I found the diversity of my country reflected in this rendition of the national anthem beautiful. I found it healing,” Ali said.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI&t=146s

    The famous VJ and actor, Anoushey Ashraf, agreed with the Gul-e-Rana actor and said, “I absolutely agree with you. Many countries have different renditions of the original anthem as long as it’s done within the frame of decency and acceptability.”

    She added, “This is just adding more diversity to it to accommodate everyone, it doesn’t change its essence or the feel. Never will.”

    Adnan’s series of posts for Sajal

    Earlier today, the Merey Paas Tum Ho actor responded to the criticism and advised Ali to revisit the post as she had missed his point.

    Taking to his Instagram, he shared a series of stories stating that he was not ‘throwing shade on the “ethnicity” of the artists involved or on anyone’s patriotism.

    In one of the stories, he tagged the actor and reminded her how “there is a protocol to be followed for national symbols, the respect accorded to them much so that the first alphabets of national symbols are written in upper case.”

    “What is next because we are creative and should celebrate diversity? Hoist the National Flag upside down and design our own version of the emblem?” He added.

    The actors have worked together in a Bollywood movie Mom, alongside late Indian actor Sridevi.

  • Joy for Joyland: SHC dismisses plea seeking ban on film

    Joy for Joyland: SHC dismisses plea seeking ban on film

    The Sindh High Court has dismissed a plea requesting ban on the movie Joyland, Naeem Sahoutara reports for Dawn.

    The petitioner requested a ban on the movie, stating that the movie depicts a relationship between a married man and a transgender woman, and that the plot is against the Constitution and Islamic principles.


    The bench was headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh.


    “In our view, where a cinematic work has passed through the censors, who have examined its content and cleared it for release with an appropriate certification, an individual cannot be allowed to trump that decision through a court proceeding based on his conception of morality. Indeed, it is not the function of the Court under Article 199 to make a moral judgment so as to curtail the freedom of speech and expression of a filmmaker, as safeguarded under Article 19 of the Constitution,” stated the detailed order passed by a division bench.


    “On the contrary, the default position of the Court under Article 199 ought to be that of fully safeguarding the fundamental right by giving as expensive an interpretation to Article 19 as possible, and in that event of a restriction being imposed by the Board or any other authority that may be competent in that regard, testing the reasonableness of that restriction stringently, so as to ensure that the same is “reasonable” in the strictest conceivable sense.”

    “Looking to the matter at hand, we are confident that Islam, being the great global religion that it is, is strong enough to withstand a cinematic work portraying a purely fictional account of a relationship humanizing a transgender character, and are equally sanguine that our society is not so weak as to crumble as a consequence,” the order stated.

  • ‘Stop glorifying abusers’: Netizens criticise ‘Lux Style Awards’ for awarding Feroze Khan as ‘Best Actor (Popular)’

    ‘Stop glorifying abusers’: Netizens criticise ‘Lux Style Awards’ for awarding Feroze Khan as ‘Best Actor (Popular)’

    Actor Feroze Khan won the ‘Best Actor (Popular)’ award at the 21st Lux Style Awards on Thursday. Although Feroze wasn’t present at the event, his elder sister Humaima Malick received the award on his behalf.

    This announcement has created a stir on social media as netizens were fumed with anger and disappointment.

    Earlier this week netizens expressed their disappointment with Khan’s nomination. On Wednesday, the organisers reacted to the backlash over Feroze’s nomination in the Best Actor category.

    The Lux Style Awards (LSAs) will not exclude Feroze Khan from their list of nominees despite widespread criticism, including from Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.

    Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Returns Her Lux Award After Feroze Khan's Nomination

    In a statement released on Wednesday night, the awards said, “The Lux Style Awards submissions are received from artists and channels as part of an open call for entries for consideration in the awards. All shortlisted nominations, for the Viewer’s Choice Category of the LSA 2022 are a result of exclusive viewer voting without any intervention by the Awards.

    “As part of our third party, the independent and transparent voting process, which is audited end to end by PricewaterhouseCoopers, LSA cannot participate in short-listing, vetting or excluding any submissions or nominations.”

  • Team ‘Lux Style Awards’ reacts to severe backlash for nominating Feroze Khan

    Team ‘Lux Style Awards’ reacts to severe backlash for nominating Feroze Khan

    The Lux Style Awards (LSAs) will not be excluding Feroze Khan from their list of nominees despite widespread criticism, including from Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.

    Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Returns Her Lux Award After Feroze Khan's Nomination

    In a statement released on Wednesday night, the awards said, “The Lux Style Awards submissions are received from artists and channels as part of an open call for entries for consideration in the awards. All shortlisted nominations, for the Viewer’s Choice Category of the LSA 2022 are a result of exclusive viewer voting without any intervention by the Awards.

    “As part of our third party, the independent and transparent voting process, which is audited end to end by PricewaterhouseCoopers, LSA cannot participate in short-listing, vetting or excluding any submissions or nominations.”

    In a follow-up statement, the LSAs said they believe in “respecting the freedom and divert of audience views, and does not regulate or limit engagement (except in cases of content with obscene or inappropriate language) on our social media platforms.”

    Their move comes after Obaid Chinoy announced she was returning her Lux Lifetime Achievement Award, which she was awarded in 2012, in protest.

    “Lux is a beauty brand that sells soaps to women yet it has chosen to allow the nomination of a man known to have violently abused his ex-wife. Its parent company, Unilever, has a global campaign that says no to domestic violence and advocates against it. The company signed up to the United Nation’s SDGs, including SDG 5 on gender equality,” she wrote, noting that Unilever’s offices in Pakistan do not seem to share the same values.

    “In 2012, I was awarded a Lux lifetime achievement award, which I will be sending back to Unilever as the brand and I no longer share the same values. As a society, we must stand together against domestic violence and we must call out those who provide platforms to abusers, “she wrote.

    “Unilever and Lux have done a disservice to the awards and to society and it is not ok for them to allow the celebration of abusers.”

  • Hasnain Lehri finds love in Netflix star Loujain Adada, makes it Instagram official

    Hasnain Lehri finds love in Netflix star Loujain Adada, makes it Instagram official

    Supermodel Hasnain Lehri took to his Instagram handle to make his relationship Instagram official with Dubai-based actor Loujain Adada.

    In the comment section, Adada responded and said, “My heart! H fairytales do come true.”

    Celebrities also dropped by to congratulate the model, including Anoushey Ashraf, Fahad Mirza, and models Fatima Hasan and Mehreen Syed.

    Loujain, who has yet to share photos with Lehri on her own account, was last seen in Dubai Bling where she was seen on a blind date with Ebraheem Al Samadi and her Instagram showdown with Farhana Bodi.

    The reality TV star announced that she is currently looking for a partner. Her husband, the late Saudi billionaire businessman Walid Juffali, passed away in 2016. They had two kids together.

    It is pertinent to mention that he started dating fellow model Sabika Imam and the duo confirmed their relationship on October 11, 2018. The rumours of their engagement started making rounds after that. They parted ways after nearly a year.