New Delhi : 24-year-old Aayenah Pahuja, the Doordarshan anchor who faced abusive criticism by internet trolls after her bloopers video was leaked, has finally spoken out.
Facebook page ‘The Logical Indian’ shared a video of the distressed anchor who requested the viewers to stop mocking her.
In the video, she reveals how the incident has made her suicidal. “The governor of India wasn’t intentional, but I was nervous at that point of time and it was a slip of tongue. There was a massive technical crash out there”.
Pahuja made a few mistakes while anchoring the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) live from Goa on November 20. She referred to state governor Mridula Sinha as the governor of India and failed to identify a Chinese actress.
The video went viral drawing a series of uncharitable comments. She was recalled from covering the closing ceremony and has lost future contracts as well.
“My career has been ruined. I am so distressed I have not eaten in four days. My family approached the cyber crime department so the video was taken off but new people keep uploading it,” she had earlier told in an interview.
“Of the smooth two-hour broadcast, only my mistakes have been posted. I have been successfully hosting corporate and entertainment shows since college.”
Recalling the incident, she said, “My instruction mic failed five minutes before we went live. I should have refused to carry on but that would have been irresponsible so I held on. I was so nervous. I could not turn my head to see who was coming, and my producer could not convey the names of dignitaries. So I introduced as few people as possible, hoping the audience would recognize them anyway.”
Upset over the online attack, Aayenah’s mother has come out in her defence. “People have selectively uploaded bits of videos. Thousands of people have called her things like ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’, or ruthlessly ridiculed her on the social media. My daughter is deeply traumatised,” her mother told ‘The Logical Indian’.
However, the industry experts dismiss her defence of blaming it on instruction mic, stating that she should have done her basic homework on dignitaries visiting the venue rather than just like that walking in to such a high profile event, putting countries pride in stake.
In the end, she makes an appeal to web surfers stating “Whatever had to happen to me has happened. I have become a butt of jokes. In the future, please spare boys or girls who commit a similar blunder. Don’t be harsh to them”. “My career is at stake I don’t know where I’m headed now,”
