Teary-eyed Maya Khan broke her silence.
According to her, all the people that she had questioned during her morning show’s infamous episode, were paid actors.
Speaking on the show Frontline, hosted by Kamran Shahid, Maya claimed that the entire episode was scripted. “The idea was to highlight the issue of 'unethical activities' that are taking places in our parks,” Maya said.
When questioned why she did such a programme, Maya defended herself, saying she had received numerous complaints from worried parents who were concerned about such “immoral activities” and expected her to do something about it.
While criticising the media and the civil society ganging up against her, Maya said that she was never given a chance to present her side of the story.
“What rest of the media was trying to achieve by repeatedly airing clips of my show? Where were media ethics when people showed my wedding pictures, my honeymoon pictures and did shows pointing fingers at my character?” Maya questioned.
Calling herself a popular morning show host, Maya asked whether, during her entire media career, she had not done anything good.
“Is there no difference between a sin and a mistake?” she asked further.
“I have been under house arrest since the media frenzy against my show started; I have been treated like a criminal. People are attacking me from all sides. I am abused through phone calls, text messages and through Facebook,” she complained.
Maya’s husband Waseem Molani, while speaking on the show via phone, said he was upset to see how people attacked his wife for invading people’s privacy by doing the very same thing to her.
“It was shameful that people criticised Maya by making her personal pictures public,” he said.
Molani added that he had always advised Maya to move to the US but she refused to do so because “she wanted to stay in Pakistan and help her people; she was always so devoted towards her country.”
Maya also invited two of the purportedly paid actors featured in her programme to the Frontline show. She further provided Shahid with a DVD with recorded statements from the female paid actors. However, these actors wore veils.
Frontline host Shahid accused her of misleading and "bluffing her audience" and asked her to render an unconditional apology to her viewers and the people of Pakistan. Maya said “leaving aside what I did was wrong or not, I ask for forgiveness from my fans; Iam really, very... very... sorry.”
COMMENTS (85)
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I have never seen your show, nor I had heard about you ever prior to watching this video. But I believe you were right doing that act / documentary type thing for the awareness of our society and people.
Friends' Simple is that she was taking in urdu we say (chaskey) in the episode.........
actually v ppl are fool to watch her regularly and flu mercy her time and again as she hosts any program,, ( Stars calling her and unnecessary comments for beauty n host acting) she start to thing her as morning mare. but was at fault, its not new one she is used to do such acts since her career, even she brought two to three liars i her program who were caught later (as he said Mohammad SAWW came in his dream n provide milk an etc) he made people fool, finally he was caught,
so she should be banned, as her husband is saying to shift in US so let them go out side, in fact they people are comparing themselves with Americans that's why doing such acts time and again,
@Badar: This is your idea of sarcasm, right?
When did dating become a crime? It's not like people are fornicating in the parks. Why is it upsetting you? Mind your own business. People wearing a burqa offends me, but you don't see me complaining about it. Let people live their lives as they please. If you think it's immoral, leave it alone. There is only one judge and it's none of us.
Quite obviously this Maya will do whatever it takes to get back on the air - and no, her apology doesn't count because, incredibly, her words still imply that she doesn't think she did anything wrong. And why didn't she mention that the victims were paid actors much before this? I'll tell you why - because they weren't paid actors - this is just an untruthful ploy which she has come up with in a pathetic effort to try and get her show back. Which highlights what everyone has been saying all along - that she has very little in the way of journalistic ethics. Frankly, I would prefer that my kids engage in romantic activities rather than see the Maya morality brigade run amok in public areas.
Big minds talk about ideas, Ordinary minds talk about things and Small minds talk about people... This is for everyone who more interested in discussing People!! Who so ever!!
We must confess the ability of clever Mr. Kamran who actually helped Maya Khan to clear herself. Surely Mr. Kamran knew the whole script of this programme. The questions he put actually were with the motive to clear Maya given the fact that the actors were placed in the Maya Khan show.
@yameen: I am glad that your awake enough to protect your own kids but do you speak for every parent with a daughter at a vulnerable age in Pakistan ? Many people may have benefited from this episode, have you not seen whats going on in parks and cafes and other places these days. Yes your right thank you Maya Khan. As for your views on privacy invasion...the less said the better.
A total FRAUD; just like the rest of media
The civil society did not GANG up on Maya. We merely protested upon her irresponsible and unethical ways and i do not understand how she plans to serve people by staying in {Pakistan as per her husband. Going public with her videos was not the best option but maya and her husband should be the last people to complain.
I also want to register that if express news has hired maya, then much much shame on express channel. this will only reinforce the belief in tele-media that anything goes.
to top it all she does not even come close to apologizing and accepting the wrong that she has done. Pakistan does not need people like her to further deteriorate our situation, she is better off in the US or wherever.
@ yameen .. if you just see privacy invasion iam sorry to say but you are so blinded by all the westernize factors we are promoting in our society . may be you dont know what your kids are doing and maybe there are many like you who dont know . when we poke our nose in everyone else business from veena malik to shereen rehman to amir liaquat even our neighbours collegues and people walking on street we dont even know .. where is all this righteous debate then .. when a women will be able to roam around freely in our country wearing pair of pants without 100000 people looking at her then may be we will look nice talking about invasion of privicy till then lets face it we live in Pakistan not USA and here these kind of activities is everyone's business and esp if its done in PUBLIC yes PIBLIC PARKS
both host and guest were good paid actors
@Hassan: privacy INVASION...thats all i see as far as kidz are corcerned oh thankyou i didnt know my kidz could have been doing that thankyou maya khan for showing me the light.......
ok lets believe for a second that there were "paid actors" on the show.shouldnt there have been a warning or disclaimer before the programme.as is ethically right,she started a sterotype by dressing her actore in hijab...shame maya .as far as "her devotion to country" is concerned,wow going to elite parties with booz and dancing isnt real representation of pakistani or their REAL problem is it now maya?......as far as public being outraged and u being aused ....one simple rule dnt get in to our private life we wont get into yours.
Anyone teaching moral values is appreciated, but a lot depends on who is actually doing this , a lady who can dance with males on tv , this is not immoral for her but dating is immoral , had some genuine molvi who is an icon for moral values be doing it , it would still have been acceptable its more about Practice what you preach
@ rao amajad ali yes more chinoys who show the world how bad are we and not maya who show our own society the mirror .. if a documentry was made over dating in public park and it was apprecited by americans most of us here would say we are proud of you maya .. we like others telling us your country have some bad issues but if some one from our own society will say so on local media we will bash him or her to death
Dear Maya,
Whatever you are in your personal life good or not ! Despite all such personal attacks on your life, I must say you did a lot of excellent activities for the betterment of our society. You did a lot of things in favor of poor people and Pakistani. Morally and ethically you have promoted a number of social issues if you are sincere and that was not paid models.You I love you and want to give you a chance, in fact every person who is fair in his/her act wants to see again. May Allah bless you and you will came out of such vicious circle of diplomatic game. Amin!
I ask people to pardon her there are bigger criminals than her that are moving freely in our society I think she had paid her price Forgive her mistake blunder sin what ever you may call it.
I am amazed to see how people are not leaving a single chance to humiliate Maya Khan .. I in person don't appreciate such shows because at least morning shows are meant for entertainment not to be stressful for the viewers. Any ways whatever Maya Khan did was not a sin it was her mistake but what those dating couples do in park is sin .. just think in person that being a woman will you prefer to see your daughter dating a guy secretly in park and crossing ethical limits will any guy can tolerate seeing his sister in such park engage in these activities.. instead of appreciating or at least accepting the fact that she did some thing good everyone else besides Maya herself at the moment is acting like a moral police . Maya should not be ashamed but every that person should be ashamed who is being filthy commit such acts and bashing Maya on internet and acting like a saint . Maya is a human she is not an angel neither we all are so we just cannot be perfect .. they are far big crimes happening in country on daily basis why don't you guys start bashing politicians and other so called anchors on internet why May only ??? i bet whenever a family come to resolve their so called family issue on morning that is fake they all are also paid actors .. think guys !
This message is for all those who think Maya did nothing worthy by highlighting this issue. I would like to ask parents and brothers what they would think if their daughter or sister is at present sitting in a park with some unknown guy she has probably met off the internet who has intentions I don't want to exlplain here. It all starts from the innocent first meeting in the park. Instead of learning a lesson and checking on your kids if they are bunking school or not and be genuinely concerned we have completely missed the point. I can only think that those people condemning Maya are those who are happy to send their own sisters and daughters to parks with their boyfriends. What is wrong is wrong. If your happy with young children being physically involved on public display then get ready for much more very soon and then when someone highlights it say 'Oh no how can she do that its invading their privacy' but don't complain when your own daughter is sitting in that park and your passing by.
shame....what culture are we promoting in our society?
It really is never too late, Pakistan is better off without your unethical and completely insane behavior. Get out of the country and let's see how you are known outside of Pakistan..you will get what you deserve for disrupting other people's peace.
Pakistan needs more Chinoys, not Mayas!
She said 'I am very very sorry'. Isn't that an unconditional apology? I think Express Tribune is now biased against her. She was never given the right to defend herself. Is this justified?
Now she can move on to politics to be amongst more like minded ppl.
@Rana Usman you are saying, "So what if Maya Khan has done something? Eventually it did no harm to anyone as she proved that all those were paid actors plus she highlighted an issue".
you seem so innocent to me. Paid acresses wearing veils made sense to you? I am sure you are going to vote for Zardari next time. lol
@Hari: Look like u have personal issues with Maya.Its a very big problem which was address by Maya.Parks r not private but public places and should be left for public rather than showing the bollywood movie clips.Maya u r gr8 host, did what was needed,keep up the good work
What paid actors, when everything is fake, are there any reasons left to believe in morning shows, reality shows, crime documentaries . I lost my faith on TV now.
@ umer rasheed just like sharmeen obaid chinnoy who won oscars by showing our country in bad light .. oh wait we are actually happy and praising her .. oh wow we are so intellegent .. we curse the one who shows bad of our society to our own selves but praise the one who shows its to rest of the world and they even award her for it .. woww ....
why she is not suing samaa tv if she has evidence... very well said here... http://www.awamiweb.com/maya-khan-back-on-television-35073.html
@ET: What do you mean no unconditional apology? She did say sorry. If she didnt say the exact way you wanted to here it what do we do next LYNCH HER?? @Ali S Seriously this whole Maya Khan overeaction is a bit too much. So she made a mistake. A public mistake. What do you expect from a morning talk show host? Have you seen the American talk show The View and how stupid and offensive most of the time the women on the show sound? It is part of their job description to run their mouths mindlessly whether they make sense or not. There are people in far more important positions in this country doing far worse things then ambushing couples in a park. If we showed such zeal towards them, then this country wouldn't be so rubbish. I thought that Maya was stupid and when she got fired I thought the episode was over. Except this hysterical apostles of liberal morality are dragging this on and on, and beating this to death on facebook twitter, they just wont let it die. Btw some of the most zealous so called 'media ethics' advocates on twitter also happen to be some of the most unethical hypocrites. It's no wonder the majority of the public just rolls their eyes at their screechy displays of 'selective activism' @everyone My advise to everyone is to move on , leave her alone and find something more useful to be 'activist' about
No one to be trusted in Pak media!
Maya Jee as advised by your husband you should move to the states. Would love to see you attempt a similar feat there :)
Its ok Maya, dont worry this is your reward from your people you have worked for all these years. i have also witnessed what you have shown on your show. Parks in Karachi are full of dating cuoples. I visit near by appartments and have seen it with my own eyes. i was disgusted to what i saw. This happens every day & evenings. So you are not wrong in what you have shown. I was really hurt when i saw you apologising on tv. Someone in the media is jealous of you who is targating you. We are very much found of you as an actor your personality. May Allh help you.
I would say we need few brave Muslims like Maya Khan to point out the vicious society values which are the problems from East to West, diminishing moral values is not the problem only in Pakistan this is issue in every civilized country of the world especially in Muslim world. Maya have done great job.
why our society is so negative ? we blame media politicians and everyone else for all the issues we have yet we ourselves are so negative that we cant even let go one issue like this .. lets target sharmeen obaid chinoy , she won oscars and we are all are yapping we are so proud of her did anyone even argued why she showed our country in such bad light ? but we all like what americans says is nice we dont have any opinion of our own .. we show ourselves in bad light and then blame others for not respecting us
Maya you did right thing don't worry.
lol @ Adnan
I can't stop laughing. I remember an uncle jumping in the show and criticizing couples hanging out at that particular park for good 5 minutes and I could tell it was fake. What was he doing during office timings in his flat anyway? Maya Khan just broke her own record of stupidity.
the point is not that she used PAID actors...!! 1) the point is, she used them to cover the 1 hour show, incase if she doesn't find any real life couples!!! and thats what we noticed when the real couples ran away!....... 2) she still made blunders even if it was planned.... and they were professional blunders! lying and deceiving - puts a big question mark on media's credibility!
What a cheap shot from her when she says that her brother is ill. What logic is this? If she wanted public sympathy she could have just apologized properly but that was too stubborn to do that
Highly stubborn and insensitive behavior. She should be banned from television, fined heavily and jailed for at least six months.
Why did not Maya khan tell in Moeez Perzaada's prog in Sochta Pakistan on PTV that all the couples were basically paid actresses and actors .... after one month she has come with a new story.. and what about the apology which was shown on Saama TV. She could tell all in that Apology footage ,,,, it is proven that it is nothing but BIG FAT LIE.................(sorry maya , we don;t believe you , you better go to US as your Husband is demanding) bye bye
Look, what else do you expect from Media Corporations?
Everyone stoop for ratings, let it be anyone. A woman from another tv channel spends an evening under a tree to see if ginies are there.
She kisses a snake for ratings of her show.
So what if Maya Khan has done something? Eventually it did no harm to anyone as she proved that all those were paid actors plus she highlighted an issue.
So Stop creating a hype against her.
I donot find her wrong in anyway.
Chill out!
Let she be on.! and she doesn't needs to apologize.
And the one who called her Drama Queen, hey you don't watch Amir Liaquat or Sahir Lodhi?
Maya, if you used "paid actors" then it would have been wise to tell people that it was all "dramatized for entertainment."
Kamran Shahid gets rating again, his shows only focuses at TRP, lets forget her and debate over serious issues of public in a constructive method
Maya, what you did was Taliban's responsibility not yours ... But one good thing they learn from your episode is that they will keep their criticizers quit before the culprits
Shes is goin to be the host of express news morning show from now onward they had to hire her ..! that is the only they had this show and tried to show as everything was pre-planned and she's innocent like cmon as if we dont kno how our media works ...! -_-
If it was scripted then Maya Khan commited fraud against the public. Shameless woman.
She's a silly, ignorant woman, rightfully booted by the channel management. Media should put the issue to rest now, nothing more to be done here.
A lame attempt to reinvent herself. After months you say they were all paid actors. Meaning that you were hunting a self-staged evil, which actually did not exist. An excuse worse than sin.
After this apology from her side i think we should give her a chance, after all whatever she has done was only to put a positive picture for those parents who couldn't understand why their kids are showing poor result in education sector, well! this could be one reason out of many. Being a young guy I can undrstand this type of dates are often not in favor of young innocent girls and sometime most of them are esily put herself in a destruct situation. In such type of circumstances the gardners and security guards are there better witnesses who spent their most of the time in parks during performing thier jobs. It's my opinion!!!!!!
Just another person making a buck trying to manage the morals of others --- a wanna be Mullah.
@Imran: Nothing personal with Maya, so I don't hate her or think of tolerating her antics. My issue with her is, she has violated personal freedoms and now realizing that she's in the wrong is unnecessarily damaging whatever is left of her reputation by resorting to 'staged event'. Its recorded and there for all to see. Anyways the backlash from the society is heartening and this sort of misadventures by media will will not proliferate.
well one thing which make me laugh so much is that "now see maya how much rating u r getting now :d " all time high rating by any morning host .....Congtraz maya u get what u want bt u get in different manner................
The rating queen now rise a new question by saying that he has used paid actor ........... this create a great concern over her proclaim good deed which he done through her show "were they were also fake show like this one" ............Well maya u got urself with another sting......
@Hari, I am not lobbying for her or a big fan of MAYA, but let me say, at least she told the truth to public... Lets be decent by tolerating on this time... See we as nation have got great patience level, the proof is; just have a look at who's who in Pakistan and we have placed people at levels where they perhaps should have not to be. Just see what another TV and film star did in neighbouring country and we are on our way to forgiving and forgetting her too. So, lets stay bit sympathetic to what MAYA did.
Also by no mean, I am making her comparison with others or others with Maya but just stating above to support my argument. Stay happy everyone...
I don't think she has been punished enough. Dismissal from the show, and now under virtual house arrest, as she puts it, is not enough. Why should her giggling at the wretched couples in the public parks be so quickly forgotten. She should have been a journalist reporting society's ills and not a vigilante out on a crusade to correct them. She should never have been honored by inviting her on a talk show.
Our media has still to go long way and our media persons would learn by making such mistakes. Lets tolerate this and give Maya a chance to rectify and correct the records. Also, who so ever put her family pictures to public, did another wrong over the wrong. People should forget it as time has moved forward from that point.
Move on. Shall we?
Best part of the show..host, "u arrange weddings, check ppl's moral values, who r u mother Teresa?"...
@hassam well then why we play double role .. lets make our society like americans .. dont make fun of gays .. if two men are walking holding hand in public dont laugh ... the big question is IF WE WERE IN US .. but sadly we are not in US we are in ISLAMIC republic of pakistan .. and PUBLIC PARK is nobody's private business
....... Where was media ethics when people showed my wedding pictures, my honeymoon pictures and did shows pointing fingers at my character?” Maya questioned.
Oh! So she was just getting back at the people for pointing fingers at her....? possibly!
We must know: People pay for hot topics no mater who pay the price. If a TV can sell more advertisement due to more watching audience they are just getting more business for the shop__ TV in this case.
There will be more such shows and actors. It happens around the world. Advertisements is billions is dollars worth of industry. Why do you think all horrible, controversial, exciting(for one reason or the other) News take front page__ to sell papers fast and pay the salaries plus other expenses for running the show.
That's where the Government is different from Private enterprise.
"Molani added that he had always advised Maya to move to the US but she refused to do so"
Well Maya if you had done something like that in the US you would have been prosecuted under federal law.
Concocted .....yet another melodrama
beating a dead horse again. OUR MEDIA AMAZES.
Mayra u did the right thing in a wrong way
If this was all DRAMA as said by her, this means all her shows were drama. No sympathies for her, for doing good shows. And, if this was the case, why was she still quiet up till now? Why was she fired from her show? About the people interfering in her life, that was to show her how it feels to interfere in others life. Her husband should stop her, before talking about the people. Because people will react to what they see, and if she knows media ethics, she had NO right to play with audience. IF this was all joke, what ever happened with her was GOOD, because all she was doing was for her FAME, not because of her 'love for the country', both are two different things.
I always support her! what she had done is good and I want others to copy her and do good deeds from her.
“leaving aside what I did was wrong or not, I ask for forgiveness from my fans; Iam really, very… very… sorry.” Still no unconditional apology. Now its too late and people should stop caring but if she would have apologized the proper way once, this wouldn't be happening to her.
Waisay people did overreact to this. It was just a damn episode of a stupid morning show that nobody watches.
Ethically WRONG! T
she should render an unconditional apology, and thats it, we pakistani forget everything, agar hum Benazir, Nawaz, aur chaudrio ki corruption ko bhula saktey hain, Imran ki Corrup team ko accept kar saktey hain, i really dnt see the point of Maya to be anywhere near the above mentioned dignitries
I think we should give her a chance. We have more worrying issues at hand than this one.
Drama queen...
really ?
Pathetic woman. If the show was actually scripted as she now claims, she should be venting out her frustration at Samaa TV's management rather than the public who were fed up with her hypocritical moral crusading - and even apart from the couple hunting, it was a thoroughly atrocious morning show (e.g. the daughter-mother showdown segments they had). Absolutely zero sympathy for her.