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Faris Shafi withdraws his track from LSA's Best Song nomination

Faris Shafi withdraws his track from LSA's Best Song nomination

"Talal Qureshi and I are neither attending, nor endorsing the awards," wrote the singer.
09 May, 2019

Faris Shafi (Meesha Shafi's brother), has withdrawn his nomination from the LSAs.

The singer is the latest star to drop out of the awards platform. The rapper's' BBC Asian Network track which was in collaboration with Talal Qureshi was nominated for Best Song at this year's Lux Style Awards.

He shared on Twitter, "Requesting that the following track, which has been nominated for ‘best song’ at the @LuxStyleAwards be removed from the list of nominees. @talalqureshi and I are neither attending, nor endorsing the awards. Thank you and good night."

Though he did not specify the reason for his decision, the LSA's have been embroiled in controversy for nominating an alleged sexual harasser with many stars including Faris' sister Meesha Shafi, model Eman Suleman, clothing brand Generation and others have rejected their LSA nominations.

After seven nominees dropped out of the LSA race, the award platform issued a statement signed by its film jury stating that the decision was entirely independent from both the LSA management and Unilever Pakistan, which sponsors the event.

Soon after, Unilever also released a statement saying, "The nominations for the Lux Style Awards are decided by an independent and transparent Jury of industry peers and critics. The members of the Jury for 2019 were chosen by an independent Board of Governors. Neither the Lux Style Awards nor Unilever Pakistan has ever intruded in the Jury's independence, and we continue to respect their decisions."

It ends with, "We are aware of the case involving Mr Ali Zafar and Ms Meesha Shafi. The matter is presently sub judice and it would not be appropriate to comment on it."

Comments

fairplay May 09, 2019 12:36pm
The publicity of the Lux awards and the Lux brand taking a serious hit in Pakistan.
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Laila May 09, 2019 12:36pm
As he should. The truth will prevail. NO matter what people say or do. Good on him.
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Sami Arshad May 09, 2019 12:48pm
Fair enough. It is his right to do this, however the fact that he shared his song link along with the withdrawal? not sure if he intended to increase views or make a statement!!!
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Queen May 09, 2019 01:29pm
He had to because of moral responsibility toward his sister.
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Tariq May 09, 2019 01:41pm
Mis shafi and Ali Zafar case is in court so nothing much can be said, but over all i feel these awards are quite pathetic, copy cat, far from Pakistan's real culture and moral values and recipients are neither very justified.
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Chingez Khan May 09, 2019 01:59pm
@Laila What? are you serious?
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Joe May 09, 2019 04:59pm
Glad to see LSA not buying into this fake hysteria of narcissistic and fame hungry celebrities. More than a year has passed since the first court proceedings, but Meesha and her team have only employed delaying tactics without producing any evidence/witness. If one is looking for the guilty, Meesha is guilty of slandering against Ali. Defamation suit filed by Ali Zafar should be proactively pursued.
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Anon May 09, 2019 08:13pm
Who cares about Faris Shafi ?
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AXH May 09, 2019 10:14pm
There was no need to drag the entire entertainment community into this conflict. LUX awards is a platform to acknowledge artists of their hard work and there are not many platforms out there in Pakistan, if any. May be Ali should drop out of the awards for the good of the community. This years Oscars were going to be hosted by Kevin Hart. But after a controversy emerged which dated back many years, he decided not to host the awards for the sake of the event. Ali should do the same. It will not prove him guilty.
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Ehsan May 10, 2019 10:02am
What an amazing and unbelievably powerful rapper
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Mehkan May 11, 2019 05:24am
As I have mentioned always, when change is to begin, some hard and unpopular opinions need to be formed and courageous actions are needed. Pinker speaks of how this world has evolved towards being more peaceful, and considers the female interests and values and their right to equal citizenship as one of the major defining force in that. Now, in Pakistan females have been harassed blatantly and without consequence, from subtle actions to brutal assaults. Now that an incident has made itself to the surface, LSA and the entire visual and performing arts industry is at a critical threshold. It is here that all the actions are going to define the precedents, the culture, the growth and above all the sanctity of the creative. Mehkan Ali mehkanali29@gmail.com
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Laila May 13, 2019 12:26am
@Chingez Khan Yes I was serious about that. Why? Was I being too idealistic considering truth doesn't hold much value in our nation or courts?
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