PETALING JAYA, June 16 — The trio behind Singaporean podcast OkLetsGo has finally apologised for making misogynistic and sexual comments about women on their past episodes.
Former Ria 89.7 DJs Dzar Ismail, 34, Dyn Norahim, 38, and Raja Razie, 38 initially vowed not to say sorry after they were called out online for making controversial statements on air, including having rowdy conversations about women’s bodies and describing sexual intercourse with women in explicit detail.
Their tone quickly changed when they woke up yesterday morning to a Facebook post by Singapore president Halimah Yacob who slammed them for “taking cheap potshots at women to boost ratings.”
Singapore Mufti Nazirudin Mohd Nasir also took to Instagram to join the chorus of critics, writing that OkLetsGo has a responsibility to not “perpetuate sexist attitudes and behaviours that have plagued our community for far too long.”
OkLetsGo then posted a response on their Facebook page expressing their apologies to all who had been hurt by their actions.
“Thank you, Madam President and respected individuals/groups for amplifying the voices of those who have been hurting, and we take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to all our listeners who we have hurt with our words and content.
“We must admit that it is an ongoing process for us to fully learn what went wrong. We came from an industry that has peddled in these norms for a very long time, both on and off screen.
“This episode is a chance for us to unlearn some of what has been normalised around us, and truly take steps towards positive change,” read the statement.
OkLetsGo also implored their fans not to attack their critics and said they would be more careful with their words in future episodes.
Twitter user @anygalien first spotlighted the issue on June 9 when she tweeted that the OkLetsGo hosts reminded her of the Malay men in her life who “casually dehumanise and sexualise women and brush it off as jokes.”
She also claimed that one of the hosts Raja Razie had attempted to discredit her opinions about the podcast by sharing a past tweet from her about masturbation to her supporters.
It has come to my attention that @RazieRaja DMed one of the vocal women who is speaking up against the casual sexism of OLG.
— goyeng pichang ✨PREZ HALIMAH STAN✨ (@anygalien) June 13, 2020
In the DM, he sent a screenshot of one of my tweets talking abt masturbating, as if to imply my opinions are less credible because I am sexually positive.
OkLetsGo began in 2019 and quickly gained popularity for tackling taboo subjects like drug use, prison life, sexuality and religion.
This achievement was cited in OkLetsGo’s initial statement after they were called out for their misogynistic views, saying they were “committed to (their) open-minded approach and will not shy away from tough issues affecting (their) communities.”
