Renowned singer Meesha Shafi asked the Lux Style Awards to remove her song ‘ Mein ‘ from her Best Song nominations list, a day after clothing brand Generation and makeup artist Saima Bargfrede also announced their decision to withdraw from the award show.
The three nominees are following the example of the emerging model Eman Suleman, who was the first to reject her nomination as a protest against the inclusion in this year’s Lux Style Awards nominations of an artist accused of sexual harassment.
Meesha begins with saying in a tweet on Tuesday, “I want to thank Eman Suleman. What she, Generation and Saima Bargfrede have said and done is what I consider my award.” She continued saying: “In a perfect world, I would love to see women retain their space in the industry while being safe, so that the cost of speaking up is minimized, or even done away with altogether. A cost which is all too high at present. Our boycotts should not overshadow our achievements. With brave women like these, I feel optimistic about getting there one day.”
About her track nominated for Best Song, she explained, “’Mein’ is a song about finding our true self. Being aligned with a higher purpose. Being our own hero and being enough. I wrote it at a particularly difficult time in my life. When I needed to be all those things.” She concluded her note by saying, “ ‘Mein’ stands nominated for the best song at the Lux Style Awards 2019. The irony is not lost on me given the current circumstances and I would kindly request that my name and work be removed from the list of nominees.”