Malaysian host Azwan Ali threatens US$21.3 million lawsuit over hair-pulling incident in Singapore
The hair-pulling incident involving influencer Aliff Syukri, which has gone viral online, happened at an event held by popular Singapore podcasters OKLETSGO on Nov 3.
Malaysian host Azwan Ali has announced his intention to file a lawsuit against influencer Aliff Syukri, after a recent hair-pulling incident at a Singapore event.
On Nov 3, popular Singapore podcasters OKLETSGO held a celebrity roast event at The Star Theatre which saw Azwan and Aliff attending as guests. During a segment, Aliff suddenly pulled Azwan's hair and dragged him across the stage as OKLETSGO host Dzar Ismail tried to pull them apart. Aliff later apologised to Azwan.
It is not clear what sparked the incident, causing some fans to speculate that the incident was a publicity stunt. However, in the hours and days that followed, Azwan proceeded to post multiple videos on X and TikTok, disparaging Aliff with multiple expletives.
On Nov 4, Aliff Syukri reposted one of Azwan's videos on his Instagram page, with a caption that offered his side of the story. According to Aliff, Azwan had been "disturbing his life for a long time" which is why he "decided to take action". Aliff also claimed that before the OKLETSGO event, he had already informed organisers that he was "uncomfortable with Azwan's presence". As such, he was shocked to later discover that Azwan too was invited to the roast.
A few days later on Nov 6, Azwan Ali took to social media platform X to announce that he plans to take Aliff Syukri to court over the incident and will sue him for RM100 million (US$21.3 million).
"I will go all out and sue (Aliff Syukri).
"(The incident) was recorded by the OKLETSGO team. As such, I won't compromise on this matter. It's true, Aliff did apologise onstage. However, I only appeared to accept his apology. After discussing with my lawyers, we don't think the apology can be accepted. As such, we'll go all out with this lawsuit because this incident has become viral and caused multiple speculations amongst fans."
In response, Aliff posted a video on TikTok where he expressed his incredulity: "RM100 million? You think it's so easy to just ask for RM100 million? I'm too lazy to fight with people. I don't like making people popular. Sometimes, people just wanna take advantage of my name. What did I do to him? The court isn't stupid enough to just award people RM100 million."