Pak TV host apologises for insensitive comment on Sridevi, Irrfan’s deaths

Pakistani TV host Aamir Liaquat Husain who faced flak for joking about the deaths of Bollywood personalities Irrfan Khan and Sridevi has apologised for his inappropriate use of words.

During an interview with Pakistani actor Adnan Siddiqui, Husain said: "You worked in Mom and Sridevi died, you worked with Irrfan Khan as well and he passed away. You were offered roles in Mardaani 2 and Jism 2 but you declined, so the actors of that movie owe their life to you." He joked that Siddiqui had actually saved lives of Rani Mukherji and Bipasha Basu by not working with them in their films.

On Saturday, Husain tweeted a video, apologising for his insensitive comments. "Sometimes you lose control over your words. That happens in a live show. At the time it didn't seem like a big issue but when I later thought about I realised that was not appropriate. So I'm really sorry. Keeping humanity in mind, this should not have been said. I made a mistake," he said in the video.

Adnan Siddiqui, who was uncomfortable with the sudden comment, later took to his social media to apologise to everyone on Husain’s behalf. “It was an extremely callous act to joke about the deceased. This is in very bad taste, not only does it show him and me but also the entire country in bad light. I want to apolgise to the families of Sridevi Sahiba and Irrfan Khan Sahab and their loved ones,”he wrote in the apology.

“If you see my body language, I was extremely uncomfortable with what he said but I didn’t want to stoop to that level. I regret being on the show. I’ve learnt my lesson and I promise I will not tolerate such an act in future,” he added.

While Sridevi’s untimely death shocked the nation in 2018, actor Irrfan succumbed to cancer on April 29 at the age of 53. He was battling a rare form of cancer for over two years. He was last seen in Angrezi Medium.