PETALING JAYA: Actor Fauzi Nawawi apologised for making light of a rape scene in one of his previous films during a recent interview.
"I would like to apologise to those affected by the video that had gone viral on social media, especially to (actress) Raja Farah (Raja Aziz) and her husband (Ismail Iskandar)," he said in a four-minute Instagram video on his account posted on Tuesday (Oct 19) night.
Noting that he had recently returned from a shooting session, Fauzi said that he accepted all the criticism against him openly.
"I did not mean to humiliate Raja Farah, and I do not want to prolong this issue any longer," he added.
The video has been viewed over 176,000 times since it was uploaded, and it had the comments turned off.
It was accompanied by the caption "Kesilapan Mmg pada Saya. Maafkan atas kekhilafan dan kejahilan Saya," (It is my mistake. Forgive me for my mistake and ignorance).
He was referring to an interview done recently, where he shared about his experience where his character was supposed to rape Raja Farah's character in a scene from the 2007 film Anak Halal, which had been deleted from the movie.
The discussion drew criticism from many Malaysians, who hit out at Fauzi for making such comments during a talk show.
A couple of hours before Fauzi posted the video on Instagram, Raja Farah and Ismail responded to the viral interview video, expressing their disappointment that Fauzi had made such comments.
"I would like to say it is wrong at all level... he (Fauzi) did not respect women and disgraced them," said Ismail, adding that such a comment was not proper, especially if she was married.
Noting that it was embarrassing, he said that it was "unnecessary and awkward" to respond to the viral clip.
Ismail said both he and Raja Farah expressed hope that people would also stop talking about the issue and move on from it.
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