Following backlash over his now-deleted tweet mocking G20 politicians wearing traditional Indonesian clothing, right-wing YouTuber Mahyar Tousi finally apologized for what he described as “an unintentional offence” caused by his social media post.
In the original post, the Iran-born and UK-based Tousi tweeted, “What on earth are these idiots wearing?!” and attached a picture of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Indonesia’s Minister of Trade Zulfikli Hasan, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Martin Schwab during the G20 Summit.
Little did Tousi know, they were all wearing endek shirts, comprised of the Balinese fabric traditionally only worn by noble leaders during ceremonial occasions, as well as traditional Indonesian batik prints. Indonesian netizens, who are notoriously fierce, took aim at Tousi, who soon deleted his tweet.
Netizens also flooded his Instagram with condemnations, even on posts that had nothing to do with the G20 comment.
Yesterday evening, Tousi posted a series of tweets to try and justify his controversial tweet, with the word “sorry” and its synonyms glaringly absent.
Tousi claimed that he would like to address the issue “Following a number of death threats and messages from Indonesian citizens and government officials.”
It should be noted that Coconuts reached out to Tousi, but our attempt was met with a block on Twitter.
About nine hours after his clarification, Tousi tweeted again, this time saying, “Once again, I apologise for any unintentional offence caused by the tweet joking about G20 leaders wearing Indonesia’s traditional clothing,” as if he actually apologized in his earlier Twitter thread.
Tousi was not the only one who was condemned by Indonesian netizens.
Essex-based Sophie Corcoran also posted a tweet questioning the garb. Corcoran, whose track record suggests she thrives on online trolling, nonchalantly addressed the backlash by saying that she merely asked a question.
Coconuts also attempted to reach out to Corcoran.
Other than Tousi and Corcoran, below are a few more ignorant and uncultured offenders from the west.
By all means, condemn politicians all you want – but surely there are more elegant ways to do so without mocking other countries’ cultures?
