Nida Yasir isn’t new to controversies and online backlash. Her morning show Good Morning Pakistan airing on ARY Digital has been in the news many times for controversial comments made by artists. Just a few months ago, the show got a ton of backlash for not practicing social distancing seriously in the midst of a global pandemic.

This time however the issue is far more serious than before. Last week, Nida invited the family of the late Marwah, a 5-year-old rape-murder case victim on her show, to publicly discuss the details of the tragic incident. This caused yet another controversy and backlash for the host.

The apology video

To recap, the show invited the family of Marwah for a special episode where Nida asked the grieving family the details about the case. This did not go down well with the viewers when the clips from the episode surfaced on the internet. The show and Nida Yasir both got backlash on social media for the insensitive nature of the show.

Nida had first responded to some comments online clarifying her side of the story. However, she made a four-minute-long apology video today that she posted on her Instagram account where she explained the details leading up to the controversial episode and its impact.

She starts the video by apologizing to everyone and asking for their forgiveness for hurting the public sentiments. Nida explains that her intentions for the doing the episode were not to cash in on a family’s tragedy but to give them a platform so their grievances could be heard by the concerned authorities. Nida also defended her show that Good Morning Pakistan‘s content is usually cheerful and entertaining because her intentions are to start her audience’s day with a smile. However, when the show was approached to do this show, Nida said she dropped all their pre-planned episodes of the week to concentrate on this episode that needed attention. She did so despite knowing how depressing the topic is for herself and that it affects her negatively.

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Nida clarified that the show hadn’t approached the victim’s family instead, the family had approached them through Sarim Burney Trust so the case could get media attention and support. Nida also talked about how media support is crucial when it comes to such cases and that’s exactly what she provided the family with. Nida claimed that the show had been crucial in helping the victim’s family and how the culprit was caught two days after the airing of the show.

Lastly, Nida said in her apology video that any hurt that was caused was unintentional. Her intentions were selfless as she only wanted the victim’s family to get justice. Her show’s TRPs come from happy, cheerful episodes so there is no way she took up this subject for the sake of ratings.

The reactions

While the hate and backlash for the episode were very strong and consistent across the board, the reactions to her apology video have been mixed so far. Some are calling it a hollow apology saying Nida keeps making mistakes and never truly changes. Some were still adamant that PEMRA should ban her show for good. Others sympathized with her and seemed more willing to forgive her, finding her apology genuine and her seeming to have the right intentions behind the interview.

It’s clear that audiences are tired of Nida and her shenanigans. The hate against her and the show has been piling on for so many years now and this seemed to be the breaking point and the final nail in the coffin. However, Nida’s apology did feel genuine. It isn’t every day that a celebrity actually owns up to their mistakes and issues an apology for hurting sentiments. In a world where celebrities tend to make mistakes and then, instead of acknowledging them, they act like victims when being called out for them, Nida’s apology is a welcome change.

We can only wait to see if she actually changes for the better and proves that this wasn’t just damage control but her speaking from the heart. We hope Nida has learned from this situation and will now try to do more sensible hosting when it comes to sensitive topics like these.