KARACHI – The Lux Style Awards is the largest award ceremony held annually in Pakistan since 2002. The awards celebrate “style” in the Pakistani entertainment industry.
The ceremony is the oldest and the most prominent film event dedicated to Pakistani television, fashion and film industry in Pakistan. The awards are voted on by both the public and a committee of experts.
Prior to 2019’s Lux style awards, many Pakistani celebrities and Fashion brands including Generation had stepped out of the LSA’s nomination due to the #Metoo movement.
Later the film jury of the Lux Style Awards 2019 issued a statement early Thursday (yesterday, giving their viewpoint after several nominees opted out of participating in the award ceremony over the nomination of an alleged harasser.
“Over the past 18 years, the Lux Style Awards have been nurturing Pakistani excellence in fashion, films, music and drama. Over these two decades, the Lux Style Awards nominations have been decided by an unbiased, independent and transparent jury of industry peers and critics,” the statement read.
Stating that neither “the Lux Style Awards nor Unilever Pakistan has ever intruded into the independence of the jury’s position”, the statement added, “In 2019, the Lux Style Awards have been surrounded by dialogue around nominees involved in a matter of sexual harassment. The LSA film jury joins the Lux Brand and Unilever Pakistan in condemning all acts of intolerance, discrimination or harassment.”
Here is the statement by LSA:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwpoIH1AbLd/?utm_source=ig_embed
“However, it is also important to emphasise that the decisions of the film jury were based on an assessment of the merits of cinematic work. We do not consider any other extraneous issues related to the personal characters or actions of people associated with that work,” it added.
The statement concluded, “The film jury of the Lux Style Awards appreciates the sensitivity of the subject and recognises the intensity of public sentiment. Nevertheless, it is also important to respect that the cases are being decided by Pakistan’s judicial system. We have complete faith in the law of the land and believe that justice will prevail.”
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/lifestyle/model-rubab-ali-drops-out-of-lux-style-awards-in-solidarity-with-sexual-harassment-victims/
It all started when Model Eman Suleman on March 30 had taken to Instagram to state that she did not “wish to be part of an accolade that is shared with an alleged harasser”. In the following days, clothing brand Generation, makeup artist Saima Bargfrede, singer Meesha Shafi, folk-rock band The Sketches and makeup artist Fatima Nasir requested to be removed from the nominations list.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/lifestyle/meesha-shafi-demands-to-be-removed-from-lsa-nominees-list/
Last night, designer Maheen Khan also said she cannot support the awards. “I have said from the outset that the LA, in fact, all awards have lost their integrity in more ways than one. More so as a victim of sexual abuse and supporter of the #MeToo movement I cannot in all conscience support the event,” she tweeted.
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