Updated 15 Oct, 2019 11:03pm

Ushna Shah defends belittling comments towards a pizza delivery guy after it causes backlash

Ushna Shah is known to not be afraid of saying what's on her mind and taking a stance for equality but something went awry here.

The Balaa actor decided to tweet using derogatory language towards a pizza delivery person. Because that's always a smart thing to do.

Shah clearly had a purpose with the tweet which no one - including us - could understand because she never bothered to apologise for the statements or accept that it's perfectly okay to be afraid of dogs. That too, pitbulls.

Not everyone is aware that they can possess a very sweet demeanor, including a pizza delivery guy at 2:00 AM.

Ushna's tweet was met with intense backlash.

With people calling her out for the elitist and ignorant tweet...

...and many just wondering how she could've thought this was a good idea.

I mean, we're all for accountability and accepting our own mistakes but that isn't there either so what is happening?

Ushna Shah responded to the outrage, hoping to make her point clear.

"I was holding the dog. He refused to come in. The first ten minutes of “mera waada hei kuch nahi Hota”, “meina pakra hua hei issey please guzar jayein” [and] “bahadur baneyin Shahbash” didn’t work... none of that encouragement worked. But as soon as his masculinity was challenged my pizza was inside. Says more about society then it does me."

But unfortunately for Ushna, that explanation wasn't enough. Maybe because she thought calling someone out over their privilege is crying, but people weren't willing to accept this explanation. Because perhaps if she did indeed think this way, the original tweet would've been phrased differently.

This led to Ushna giving an even bigger clarification and writing about masculinity and patriarchy.

"I resorted to the approach, knowing it would work on a Pakistani man," said Ushna, admitting yet again her statements were sexist.

"I was of course not proud of it, it was an honest confession that should have created a conversation about masculinity in Pakistan except every twitter warrior who had to be enraged was. I don't mean to offend anybody who is afraid of dogs (although the dog phobia in our country is another discussion)."

Ushna fails to understand that a lot of the rage doesn't even come from the sexist comments - which are as insulting to women as they are to men - but the derogatory behaviour towards a person in the service industry who is being demeaned because of the very obvious power dynamics.

And still being unapologetic about it. We love unapologetic women but when it's towards society, not an underpaid service worker.

You can't demand a service while simultaneously degrading those who provide it for you. That's the tea. Here's hoping Ushna gets it for the future.

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