If there was a list for the strangest encounters on the internet, we vote for this one to be on it — Feroze Khan responded to Shaniera Akram’s criticism of his lack of regard for his child’s safety while driving and his reply is something neither Akram nor we understand.
On Saturday, Khan shared a video of Khabib Nurmagomedov — whom he dubbed the best fighter in the world — wrestling a bear and then the video switches to a child fighting bears. The narrator says Nurmagomedov grew up fighting bears. “World’s number one fighter, Shaniera Akram. He didn’t hear you or his father while being trained or he would’ve wasted major [talent],” he wrote. “I’m part of Pakistan’s professional racing fraternity for the past two years. I understand the sensitivity a lot more than you can. Let me do me, you do you. You’re heard and ignored. I’m back to business.”
Okay, let’s unpack this. First of all, Khan deems it okay to throw his child into the face of danger so they can potentially learn to overcome it. Lack of seatbelts = fighting bears?
The Habs actor seems to think having his child sit in his lap while he’s driving sans seatbelt is akin to throwing our offspring out of the nest so they can learn to fly.
To the second part, we have nothing to say — just a whole lot of question marks. What does being part of the professional racing fraternity have to do with his child being in a compromised position? Does being in a fraternity invoke some kind of divine protection that keeps one from being affected the same way any normal person would be in a traffic accident? What???
Akram was in the same state we were after our first read of Khan’s reply — complete and utter puzzlement. “Have no idea what this means, Feroze Khan. Please refrain from sending me sick, cryptic animal cruelty videos,” she wrote.
Responding to the most coherent part of his confusing message, she said, “A professional racer would know that putting your child in the front seat of a car is the most unprofessional thing you could ever do!”
We don’t know what Khan was trying to say but we hope he knows English is Akram’s first language so translation is really not the problem here. Nonetheless, he said, “I already requested to have Wasim bhai translate. You wouldn’t get it. Requires strength of understanding.”
We don’t know what strength of understanding he’s talking about but apparently we do not possess it as well. We’re not sure we’d like to either. This strange exchange has come a day after the activist told off Khan for driving with his daughter in his lap, violating basic road safety rules. She said she felt “sick to her stomach on the stupidity of some people” — read: Khan. Apparently being told he’s endangering his child’s life didn’t sit well with him.