Veteran actor Naumaan Ijaz is in the headlines once again, this time for inviting and subtly insulting model and actress Ayesha Omar on his show.
A video clip from his famous talk-show on a local channel is going viral these days, in which he is repeatedly trying to convince Ayesha Omar that she should never have opened up about her experience of sexual harassment, referring to Omar’s statement which she made in 2020 regarding an unnamed yet influential figure of the industry at the hands of whom a lot of female celebrities have suffered.
Naumaan Ijaz, instead of supporting her or appreciating her in the cause of speaking up against harassers, made her question her act by first asking if she intentionally tried to stay in the news through bold photo shoots and controversial statements. Then he made her even more and visibly uncomfortable by adding that people should not jump on the bandwagon just for the sake of adding to the #metoo trend, to which Ayesha Omar respectfully responded by saying that it was never with the intent of following a trend that she spoke against harassment, but for inspiring millions of simple women who get abused, yet have no one to look up to for support.
Unconvinced and obstinate, Ijaz continued to force Ayesha Omar to accept that she has done something wrong, by finally saying sarcastically that has she received the ‘wah wah’ (praise) which she had thought she might receive on telling everyone that she got sexually harassed.
Throughout, Ayesha Omar was found keeping her calm and responding respectfully to every single statement of Naumaan Ijaz, but netizens couldn’t help noticing the actor’s insulting remarks carrying misogynistic undertones as well. The ‘Sang-e-Marmar’ and ‘Sang-e-Mah’ fame actor is quite the talk of the town now, and for all the wrong reasons, for no one has been left happy or impressed by such insensitive and hurtful comments on the part of a senior and respectable like Naumaan Ijaz.
