Daily Times

Actor and rapper Ahmed Ali Butt is unhappy over stars withdrawing their Lux Style Awards (LSA) nominations. The nominations for the 18th LSA 2019 were announced recently. However, the annual awards show has been marred with controversy after several celebrities, including Meesha Shafi, announced to give up their nominations for Ali Zafar, alleged of sexual harassment by Meesha Shafi, has also been nominated for the award.

Expressing his displeasure over this protest by some celebrities, Ahmed Ali Butt said treating an award like a piece of garbage is truly sad and uncivilised.

Taking to social media, the actor wrote, “An award has no worth for anyone except to whom it is given to. It is a token of appreciation from your fellow peers, all the nominees who are elected with you hold that same respect and honour for their craft, yet you are the winner which means they have given you that respect and honour.”

‘An award has no worth for anyone except to whom it is given to. It is a token of appreciation from your fellow peers, all the nominees who are elected with you hold that same respect and honour for their craft, yet you are the winner which means they have given you that respect and honour’

He went on to say, “People have the right to protest and even request not to be nominated if they please to do so, but to degrade an award and to treat it like a piece of garbage is truly sad and uncivilised. This means you have no regard for the art and your fellow peers who gave you the title.”

Ahmed stressed that there are better ways to protest while Ali Zafar and Shafi’s case is already in court so it should be dealt by law.

“LSA is the oldest running awards we have and has nothing to do with the other thing. Let’s keep it that way by being civilised and respectful,” he wrote.

Shafi’s song “Mein” was nominated for the best song but she demanded that her name and work be removed from the list of nominees given the current circumstances.

Shafi had alleged her colleague Zafar of sexual harassment in a tweet in June, 2018.

Using the #MeToo hashtag, Shafi added that it is not easy to speak out but it is harder to stay silent. “My conscience will not allow it anymore,” she added.

Shafi had then filed a complaint against Zafar under the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 while Zafar had also sent a legal notice to co-artist Shafi for her allegations.

The ‘Teefa in Trouble’ star had filed a defamation suit in a court in Lahore through his lawyer, asking for an apology from Shafi for levelling baseless allegations and pay Rs1 billion in damages. The case is currently under proceeding.