Anti-body-shaming advocate called out live on TV3 for ironic cyberbullying
Yesterday, Twitterjaya blew up with a clip of Twitter personality (or as Malay Twitter calls him, Twitpemes) @Azfarovski, who happens to have albinism, calling out his fellow panellist on live TV for cyberbullying him.
Malaysian Twitter users, Azfar, Shazwan, and Zulina were invited as panellists to talk about body shaming on a local talk show called Malaysia Hari Ini.
Ironically, one of the victims of body shaming himself, @Shazwan, had his own history of cyberbullying others. Â
A few months back, Shazwan quoted a news headline about an albino teen being slaughtered for a black magic ritual by saying “Someone should hunt and cut up Azfar tooâ€.
Upon public uproar, he deleted the tweet but it was too late; the screenshots had already been circulated online.
Instead of hiding behind the safety of a screen, Azfar took to live TV to call him out face-to-face saying:
“First of all, I will give you my first hand experience of how you won’t get away with body shaming, or cyberbullying. So, on August 20th, Astro Awani published an article about a Tanzanian child being slaughtered in the name of a ritual.
That’s what’s been happening to albinos in the world. Shazwan, you quoted the article and tagged me, saying something along the lines of “After this we can hunt down and cut Azfar tooâ€.
Azfar Firdaus via TV3
It rendered Shazwan speechless, and he could barely respond.
This incident was met with mixed reactions from Twitterjaya; some were supportive:
Sebab tu aku percaya ramai yang suka carut/ugut orang kat socmed memang 99% tak akan berani cakap depan-depan.@Azfarovski is not cancelling the guy.
He maturedly handled the topic with an example to drive the point home.
It’s a lesson for all jaguh kampung. https://t.co/INJH3fCOBB
— Jaja Shah-Mohen 🏳️🌈 (@jajashahmohen) October 28, 2019
Others felt it was uncalled for and could start a vicious cycle of cyberbullying.
Actually kan when he called out that guy on national tv, he opens doors for people to cyber bully that guy (which u can clearly see now ramai yg attack the other guy)
So macam…. hmmmmm you are not the better person here. And also you didn’t put an end to anything pun……
— Sakinah Al-Habshee🌻🇲🇾 (@serenitysakinah) October 28, 2019
One Twitter user also joked about how the producer would get an earful for not preventing the panellists from mentioning their competitor (Astro Awani) on screen.
Let me tell you what’s most shocking about this, kids. @Azfarovski went on TV3 and quoted ASTRO AWANI. Media Prima and Astro people understand what I’m talking about https://t.co/Hr4uYjiPS7
— Nadia Nazir (@Nadia_Nazir) October 28, 2019
Jokes aside, cyberbullying is a serious offence. You can be charged under Section 233 (1)(b) of the Multimedia and Communication Act 1998 (Act 588). It can either get you fined up to RM50,000, jailed for a year, or both!
Or you can also get called out on live TV and risk ruining your own reputation.
Responding to naysayers who called him out for his derogatory remarks in the past, Azfar tweeted:
When I decided to talk about it on TV, I knew people would dig up my old tweets. Be it racist, sexist, bigoted, body shaming etc.
But it’s alright. Even if my image goes down the drain, I would like to make a stance and say that it’s not, and never will be, alright.
— Azfarism (@Azfarovski) October 28, 2019
Be the judge and watch the full clip here.
Do you think Azfar did the right thing? Let us know on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Former software engineer who got tired of programming and now intends to reprogram your minds through writing. Writer by day, pop punk rocker by night.