On August 11, a Pakistani immigrant living in the United States, Ayesha Malik addressed actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra at a Beautycon event in LA. Beauty Vlogger Ayesha, who was an audience member at the event, questioned the actress about her tweet from February that was directed to the Indian army and read, “Jai Hind #IndianArmedForced”. Priyanka had saluted the India army after a cross-border airstrike was carried out in Pakistan on February 26 to retaliate for the Pulwama attack.
At the international event, Ayesha asked Priyanka Chopra why she was “encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan” despite being a peace ambassador. Ayesha also accused Priyanka of being a hypocrite, she said, “So it was kind of hard to hear you talk about humanity because as your neighbour, a Pakistani, I know you are a bit of a hypocrite. Because you tweeted on February 26th, Jai Hind #IndianArmedForces. You are a UNICEF Ambassador for peace and you’re encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan.”
However, mid interaction, Ayesha’s mic was taken away by security.
In response to Ayesha, Priyanka said, “Are you done venting? Okay. War is not something I’m really fond of but I am patriotic, so I’m sorry if I hurt sentiments to people who do love me and have loved me. But I think that all of us have a sort of, a middle ground that we all have to walk. Just like you probably do as well. The way that you came to me right now… girl, don’t yell. We’re all here for love.”
A few days after the incident, the videos from the event have been making rounds on the internet and Ayesha has also posted a few on her social media handles.
Priyanka Chopra tweeted during a time when we were this 👌🏽 close to sending nukes to one another. Instead of advocating for peace she tweeted in support of the Indian army pic.twitter.com/LhbMkOW59v
— Ayesha Malik (@Spishaa) August 11, 2019
“Whenever you’re don’t venting”. Sorry, didn’t realize that speaking on a humanitarian crisis was “venting” pic.twitter.com/OqCLgjDNa1
— Ayesha Malik (@Spishaa) August 11, 2019
In addition to this, Ayesha took to Twitter and shared a series of tweets about the incident and said that Priyanka Chopra was gaslighting her.
In an interview with an international news portal, Ayesha said that this incident “revealed the true Priyanka Chopra, not the one she pretends to be as a goodwill ambassador.” She also said, “But deep down, she doesn’t believe any of it… This time her PR team was not in her ear… What we got was raw, unfiltered Priyanka,” said Ayesha.
While referring to the fact that she may have raised her voice, “I had no intention to do this. If I truly had the intention, I would have been more eloquent. My question came from my heart and was filled with emotions. It wasn’t scripted.”
“I had no intention of hearing her talk. As of February, I have been upset about her comment on nuclear war. I was just walking by to another booth when I heard her say that we should love our neighbours and embrace other cultures… The audience was not of South Asian descent and wasn’t aware of what her stances were,” Ayesha added.
Priyanka’s response to Ayesha was considered “condescending and demeaning” by many on Twitter. People called out Priyanka Chopra on the microblogging site for giving a “satirical, catty & rude” response to Ayesha. Here’s what Tweeple are saying:
Featured Image: Instagram
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