PETALING JAYA, Jan 24 — Toronto-based singer Ali Gatie sent the rumour mill churning when he gave a shout-out to Malaysian Instagram model Sharifah Rose on Twitter recently.
Sharifah, who was lambasted online for briefly removing her hijab during a beach holiday in Phuket, was praised by Gatie for responding to the situation with grace and dignity.
“We are all human! I love you and support you! Takes a mature person to have this reaction. We are all proud of you,” he wrote on his account, which is followed by more than 329,000 users.
We are all human ! I love you and support you ! Takes a mature person to have this reaction . We are all proud of you @sharifahrose https://t.co/TtUwC2FB0u
— Ali Gatie (@aligatie) January 22, 2020
His tweet has garnered more than 17,000 retweets and 35,000 likes so far, a majority of them coming from Malaysians who were stunned at the unlikely connection between him and Sharifah.
Some users labeled the It’s You singer as gatal (flirty) and speculated that he was trying his luck at sparking a romantic relationship with the 22-year-old influencer.
from Ali Gatie to Ali Gatal real quick https://t.co/DSKBDUI3Xi
— alep cahmi (@heunoras) January 22, 2020
minat rose latewwww
— . (@zeulaikha) January 22, 2020
If that is indeed the case, Gatie is in for a disappointment as Sharifah is currently dating the stepson of singer Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, Aaazief Khalid.
lamak ali dia dah ada boyfriend la kalau try awal sikit ritu kan senang
— nynagomez (@nynagomez1) January 22, 2020
Sharifah previously had to contend with keyboard warriors who called her a “hypocrite” for revealing her hair while she was vacationing in Thailand.
She later posted an apology on Twitter and described the incident as “the stupidest 10 minutes of (her) life”, explaining that she had removed her wet cap to dry and that she was unknowingly photographed by a friend who then shared the image on Instagram.