‘Ms. Marvel’ actress Mehwish Hayat and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh face UK government scrutiny over music video

UK complaint filed over Mehwish Hayat and Yo Yo Honey Singh music video showing children with imitation guns.

The UK government is reviewing a complaint against Mehwish Hayat and Yo Yo Honey Singh over a music video showing children holding imitation firearms.

Manuela Perteghella, MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, raised concerns with the Home Office regarding the video for Singh’s track ‘Jatt Mehkma’. The video, filmed in Birmingham and Herefordshire, depicts four boys using replica automatic weapons and shotguns.

The Home Office is considering exclusion orders that could prevent Hayat and Singh from entering the UK. A person familiar with the matter stated the ban may be issued under rules that assess whether entry is conducive to the public good. The Home Office and West Midlands Police declined to comment.

Shaykh Paul Salahuddin Armstrong from the Association of British Muslims criticised the video. “As someone who has worked with vulnerable youth for nearly two decades, I find this incident profoundly disturbing. 

To see British children brandishing imitation firearms in a stylised gang scene, filmed on our soil and facilitated by UK production companies, is not only a moral failure, but potentially a legal one.”

“This is not art. It is the reckless glorification of violence, dressed up as cultural entertainment. It undermines all our collective efforts to steer young people away from gang culture and towards lives of dignity, purpose, and contribution to society,” he said.

The video has gained nearly 40 million views on YouTube. Hayat appeared in Ms. Marvel and is known for Pakistani films. Singh is a prominent Indian rapper with a significant following. Both have declined to comment on the complaint.