00:01Datin Sehri Rozma Mansour is taking comedian Harith Iskandar to court, accusing him of
00:07using her image in a stand-up routine to mock and body shame her.
00:11The wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Sehri Najib Razak filed the defamation suit against
00:16Harith Iskandar at the High Court on June 9th. According to her statement of claim,
00:21the alleged defamation took place during Harith's show, The Outspoken Comedy Tour,
00:25at the Swiss Garden Hotel in Malacca on January 17th.
00:30Rozma claims Harith displayed images of scary mythological creatures from Malaysian folklore,
00:35including the Toyol, Pontianak and Pochong, before showing her image to the audience as part of the joke.
00:41She alleges Harith joked about drivers seeing a terrifying figure in their rearview mirror on a
00:46dark road, at which point her image appeared on screen, which she says was a deliberate attempt
00:51to portray her as frightening and subject her to public ridicule and body shaming.
00:55She is seeking an unconditional apology from Harith, along with unspecified general,
01:00aggravated and exemplary damages.
01:03In his defense, Harith denies the routine was malicious or defamatory,
01:08arguing it must be understood within the full context of the comedy show.
01:12He says,
01:13Rozma's claim relies heavily on two clips uploaded to a TikTok account under the handle at
01:19mayachan0303, which he says do not represent the entirety of his 90-minute performance.
01:24Harith states he doesn't know who owns the account, and says the unauthorized recording
01:29and uploading breached the event's house rules.
01:31He also argues that Rozma's image was shown for less than five seconds out of the full 90-minute
01:37show, and that it was not a recurring or central theme of his routine.
01:41Harith says house rules and disclaimers were broadcast in both Bahasa Malaysia and English
01:46before the show began, and that his legal team intends to rely on this during trial.
01:51The case is ongoing.
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