Hitz.fm draws flak for ‘transphobic’ video

A video posted online by radio station Hitz.fm has netizens up in arms over its “transphobic” message.

A saved version of the video, bearing the description “When a pretty girl turns out to be a guy. Have you ever been so startled you feel like throwing up?” was reproduced on the personal Facebook profile of transgender activist Nisha Ayub.

In the 23-second video, a character with long hair passes two Hitz.fm deejays, Arnold (Arnold Loh) and RD (Ryan De Alwis) in a hallway.

Arnold encourages RD to speak to the character, who is assumed to be a woman.

RD approaches and taps the character on the shoulder. The character then turns around and speaks in a masculine voice.

RD is then shown throwing up in his mouth, followed by Arnold vomiting in the hallway.

Nisha, who was the first transgender woman bestowed with the International Women of Courage Award, said the negative stereotypes portrayed by the Hitz.fm video would only worsen the discrimination already being faced by the transgender community.

“If you guys feel like vomiting, I feel disgusted knowing that you have such a mentality. What kind of message you are trying to portray to the public?”

“It’s really sad to see that we, the trans community in Malaysia, face so much discrimination to the extent of facing violence and even hate crimes, but yet we have media that actually perpetuate such degrading messages (about) the community to the general public.

“Shame on you Hitz.fm... It could be a joke to you but your joke could also affect someone’s life too,” Nisha said on Facebook.

In a statement today, Hitz.fm said that the offending video has since been removed from the station's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

"We at Hitz.fm would like to apologise for the said video, and have since removed it," Hitz.fm told Malaysiakini.

At the time of writing, the video on Nisha’s Facebook page had been shared 66 times, with 30 comments.

One Facebook user going by the name Shahin Harris said: “This is a disgusting video. Never knew that with so much awareness (in) the public, they can produce such heinous videos. Shame on them.”

Another user, He-shamz Harun, added: “We are not a joke! There’s still a lot of things that we can joke about but still they choose ‘us’ to be the jokes! Shame on them.”