Three Era FM DJs who went viral for video seemingly mocking Thaipusam back on duty
KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The three radio announcers from Era FM breakfast show are back on duty after being put on leave after an incident involving a video that went viral, to the point it prompted an investigation from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Nabil Ahmad, Azad Jazmin John Louis Jeffri, and Radin Amir Affendy of the 3 Pagi Era breakfast show are back on duty, the station confirmed in a statement.
The statement made no previous mention as to why the announcers were put on leave, instead emphasising that they had gotten feedback from listeners who missed the trio's presence and their excitement on hearing of their return to the airwaves today.
Thee three announcers had previously apologised after public uproar over a video uploaded to the station's media channel.
It depicted Azad mocking the way Hindu devotees enter a trance while fulfilling their vows.
Voices in the background, presumably his colleagues could be heard chanting 'Vel, Vel!' and laughing in response to Azad's antics.
While the announcers, besides being placed on leave by their management, did not face any penalties, the station was fined RM250,000 under Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 for uploading what was deemed offensive content on the Era FM official TikTok account.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Matt Vautour: Fenway Franks and Moneyball - What a French sportswriter saw at his first Red Sox game
BOSTON — From his seat high in Fenway Park's right field bleachers, Azad Rosay leaned forward, focused on the action he was only beginning to understand as the ball sailed off Pete Alonso's bat in the top of the first inning. Jarren Duran barehanded the carom off the wall, whirled and threw a strike to David Hamilton at second, who slapped the tag on the runner. Advertisement Azad turned to me, looking excited. 'People said this was going to be boring,' he said. 'There's more going on than I thought there was going to be.' Coming to the park that night, we had related concerns. Azad had never seen a baseball game before. Not even on TV. He'd been warned that the game was going to be slow. I was worried he'd think that baseball was boring. We were both pleasantly surprised. Azad is a part-time basketball blogger and podcaster who lives in France. He writes about the Celtics in English for the CelticsBlog and podcasts about the entire NBA in French for The Dreamcast Show. The growing number of fans in both countries, who are interested in X-and-O breakdowns and analytics, like his work. Advertisement I'd never met him until April 23 when we were eating at the same table in the media room before Game 2 of the Celtics-Magic series. Sportswriters are usually curmudgeons, so his enthusiastic energy and his French accent stood out. A native of Grenoble in the French Alps, Azad was in Massachusetts, staying with relatives to cover the Celtics playoff run. Someone asked him what else he hoped to in Boston while he was here. He said he wanted to go to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, but knew nothing about baseball. 'Since I'm a big sports fan, people said 'you should go watch a game.' The Red Sox are a historic franchise,' he said. 'It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when you come from Europe. You never know when you could be back.' Advertisement I saw an opportunity, too. What would baseball and its unique and complicated rules look like to a sports fan who had never seen it? 'I'll take you to the game if you let me write about it,' I said. Azad liked the idea. We decided to pick a game based on how quickly the Celtics eliminated the Knicks (oops). The Celtics' collapse in six games meant Azad's trip was getting cut short. So with no Game 7 on Monday, May 19, we decided to go to Red Sox-Mets that night instead. You don't have to love baseball to enjoy a late spring night at Fenway Park when the weather is warm and the sun is setting behind third base. Those nights are like sitting at an outdoor bar. Advertisement But May 19 was cloudy, cold and windy, the type of night when the demand for hot chocolate at the Dunkin' under the right field grandstand is much greater than for the helmet sundaes just across the concourse. Baseball would have to sell itself, and that worried me a little. What if he hated it? What if he was bored? What if the popular criticisms of our former national pastime stood out? But as Azad walked up the ramp from the dark tunnel and was greeted by Fenway Park's sea of green, his pace slowed as his eyes surveyed the scene in front of him. He smiled, took out his phone and snapped a picture to capture the moment. Advertisement That was a good sign. I bought two standing room tickets. Anytime the game-time temperature is below 65 degrees, there are lots of open seats. My plan was to bounce around, sitting in different sections so he could see the game and Fenway Park from lots of different angles. If someone showed up for the seats we were sitting in, we'd find new ones. Azad was on board with the plan and we started with two seats in the loge boxes between home and first base during the pregame. The pregame plan was to discover if Azad had picked up anything about baseball in his first 29 years. American ex-pats brought the sport to France before even World War I, but it hasn't caught on. Advertisement I asked some basic questions. Azad knew what a home run was and that the MLB championship was decided by the World Series. He knew there was a pitcher, but wasn't sure who that was. 'I know there are some players who throw balls and some players who use a bat to tap the ball,' he said. 'I know you can do a home run and keep running.' The only current major leaguer he knew was Shohei Ohtani. His knowledge of former players was only slightly larger — Billy Beane, Jason Giambi, Scott Hatteberg and David Ortiz. That list gives away that Azad had seen 'Moneyball.' At first, it seemed odd that he'd intentionally picked a movie about the inner machinations of a sport he knew nothing about. But for a guy who sees basketball, at least partially, through an analytical lens, 'Moneyball' wasn't advanced baseball, but a starting point. Azad not only saw the movie but liked it enough to have watched it several times, including the day before his Fenway trip as preparation. Advertisement From the film, he knew the Red Sox had gone a long time between championships and that when they eventually won, they did so with a team that used their version of Moneyball philosophies. 'Billy Beane ended the curse,' Azad said matter-of-factly, oversimplifying the epilogue text at the end of the movie. We spent part of the pregame in those first base seats and the rest atop the Green Monster for Mets batting practice. Before going up to the right field roof for a beer, the national anthem and the first pitch, we stopped in the bar/museum tucked one flight up behind the right field bleachers. Azad studied the locker replications and then was immediately drawn to the Fenway Park replica in the back. The intricate model that's about 24-by-24 inches around and nine inches high has players on the field, making it perfect for asking baseball questions. Advertisement The game immediately made way more sense to Azad as soon as he realized the batter and pitcher were adversaries. 'I didn't expect that getting on first base would be so difficult,' he said. 'It's not just about a guy sending the ball and another guy trying to hit it with a stick. There's a matchup between the pitcher and the hitter.' Calling the officials 'umpires' was a source of amusement. 'Umpire? That sounds like Star Wars,' he said, chuckling and later referred to the guy calling balls and strikes as 'Darth Vader.' After we each grabbed an obligatory Fenway Frank (he opted for mustard/I'm a barbecue sauce guy) in the big concourse, we took the stairs up to the right field roof and bought beers. Advertisement We spent an inning in the bleachers, one on the right field roof, two in the pavilion boxes next to the press box and the rest of the game in the second row of loge boxes on the third baseline. Azad leaned in and paid attention from the first pitch and reacted when Francisco Lindor hit the game's fifth pitch in the air for a lazy fly out. Alonso's ill-advised attempt to stretch his single to a double came two plays later. The Red Sox scored twice in the bottom of the first. After Duran doubled, Azad, a novice Billy Beane disciple, appreciated Rafael Devers' ability to 'get on base' with a walk. The early action continued as both players moved up on a wild pitch and eventually scored. Azad asked smart questions and caught on quickly. Basketball and 'Moneyball' were the tentpoles for his questions and many of my explanations. Advertisement I explained to Azad that the game's devotion to analytics had evolved from and in some ways away from Beane's core Moneyball principles. Home runs and all the factors that contribute to them (launch angle, exit velocity, etc.) have changed the approach of many hitters. 'Trying for home runs is like shooting a lot of 3-pointers in basketball,' he said. He took new pictures at each new spot, admiring the park. 'It's beautiful. I love that you can see the city and the sky,' he said, motioning toward the Prudential Tower lit up beyond right field. 'There's a vibe that you know you're somewhere special.' Advertisement He was surprised to learn that ballparks didn't have uniform dimensions. 'Home runs are not always the same?' But his appreciation of the evening went beyond the venue. He liked the strategy. 'I like how much power the defense has,' he said, noting that it doesn't really happen in sports where the offense has the ball. He asked about defensive positioning when Trevor Story lined up directly behind second base and then was impressed when a ball was hit right to him. I explained the idea of a double play and why the second baseman and shortstop were playing back in the sixth. He spent the rest of the game looking for them. Advertisement When we moved to our seats off of third base for the final innings, it gave us a great look at the pitcher and batter up close. Azad got into a rhythm of watching the pitch, then looking for the velocity on the scoreboard. He was perplexed at why a camera or a computer didn't determine balls and strikes. 'It surprises me that it is just evaluated by the umpire guy behind the catcher, who says if it's good or not,' he said. 'It's based so much on human decisions.' In the bottom of the eighth, I pointed out Aroldis Chapman warming up in the bullpen and I explained the concept of a closer. 'What a great job,' he said, admiring the nature of a guy whose job it was to come in, shut down the opponent and end a game. 'I close.' Advertisement Chapman did his job, earning the save in the 3-1 win. He loved that the home team doesn't bat in the bottom of the ninth if they're winning. 'It's like a mic drop.' As the traffic-beating fans departed in the eighth, thinning the Monday night crowd, Azad was surprised to see them go. He was in for all nine innings. 'If I was watching on TV, I don't think I would have been hooked, but I can see why people love baseball,' he said. 'Like they said in Moneyball: 'How can you not be romantic about baseball?'' Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
Edinburgh filming for '90s classic movie remake takes over Portobello beach
Production for a Bollywood film has descended on the streets, and beaches, of Edinburgh. The movie, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, is a romantic comedy - and a remake of a classic '90s Bollywood film. It's set for release in April next year. Residents in the city have seen filming taking place in Victoria Street, outside the Royal Scottish Academy and down at Portobello beach. The films title comes from a Hindu saying, which roughly translates means that 'young people are bound to fall in love'. READ MORE: Neighbourhood Edinburgh pub to close for refurb as it prepares for 'new chapter' READ MORE: Edinburgh police 'in riot gear' swoop on quiet street in ongoing incident The project comes from director David Dhawan, and features his son Varun Dhawan, as well as Pooja Hegde and Mrunal Thakur. Cast and crew were seen filming scenes on Portobello beach on Monday. A casting call was released in early May, with extras wanted for a hospital scene who could play nurses and doctors in the background. The 30-day shoot in Scotland is understood to cover two songs, with key chase sequences and 'comedic scenes' for the film. A source told Pinkvilla, a top Bollywood news site: "A lot of combination scenes, leading to chaos on screen will be shot in Scotland. Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox "The conclusion of Scotland schedule will lead to a film wrap, not-with-standing a couple of songs and some patchwork sequences." The original film, from 1999, starred actors such as Anil Kapoor and Salman Khan, and many refer to it as Chunnari Chunnari - its popular main track. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
Indian couple's extravagant wedding parade shuts down Wall Street — meet the bride and groom
It was a marriage made in Manhattan — and it brought Wall Street to a full stop. An extravagant Indian wedding parade, or baraat, turned the Financial District into a full-blown block party on Saturday, halting traffic and causing jaws to drop faster than a stock market crash. Hundreds of people, decked in glittering sarees, sequinned lehengas and gold-embellished finery, gathered outside Cipriani Wall Street to watch the happy couple arrive and grooved to a pulsating blend of Bollywood beats and pop bangers spun by a live DJ. 'We shut down Wall Street for a 400-person Baraat,' DJ AJ @djmumbai wrote alongside a clip of the epic moment. 'Who would've ever thought?!' 'Who are the bride and the groom? Must be billionaires,' one person commented. Turns out, the mystery newlyweds weren't Bollywood royalty — but they might as well be. Thanks to a plethora of social media posts tagging them, the duo was identified as Varun Navani, CEO of enterprise AI platform Rolai, and Amanda Soll, a director of legal compliance and risk management, per their LinkedIn pages. Their identities were confirmed by their wedding page on The Knot, which contained the details of their four-day wedding celebration. The high-powered pair hail from Boston, Mass., but decided to tie the knot in the city that never sleeps. The bride and groom didn't just break the internet — they broke the bank. According to city records viewed by The Post, the couple filed 28 permits for their big day, likely shelling out between $25,000 and $66,000 per location to shut down the Financial District. The Mayor's Office classifies street events — which take over curbs, sidewalks and roads — by size and impact, with 'large' events requiring a full block closure and extensive setup, and 'extra-large' events demanding even more space, permits and NYPD coordination. The baraat — a time-honored tradition in Hindu and Muslim South Asian weddings — is essentially a pre-ceremony procession where the groom's family and friends dance their way to the venue, often with dhol drums, music and more flair than a Broadway finale. Traditionally, the groom arrives on horseback, following rituals like his sister feeding daal-channa (lentils) to the steed and sisters-in-law applying kaala teeka (a black dot) to the back of his neck to ward off the evil eye. According to their Knot page, the lovefest kicked off Friday, May 23, with breakfast and afternoon tea at the Conrad hotel, followed by a lively sangeet — a pre-wedding bash full of music, dancing and revelry — at The Glasshouse. Saturday brought more breakfast, brunch and tea at the Conrad before the main event: the baraat at 3:30 p.m., followed by a lavish reception at Cipriani Wall Street that kept guests partying from 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. For the baraat, Navani arrived in a traditional ivory long coat, or sherwani, and layered pearl necklaces and stunned onlookers, who captured the dazzling scene of hundreds dancing down the historic street. The groom was also seen riding in a white vehicle down the street at one point and clapped with a megawatt grin as his crew hoisted him into the air. Soll, the bride, stunned in a deep ruby lehenga by renowned Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, adorned with ornate gold embellishments and matching glimmering jewelry. Her brunette tresses swept into an elegant updo with soft face-framing tendrils. Her glam? A modern classic with kohl-rimmed, winged liner, glistening highlighter and rosy blush on her cheekbones and a minimal nude lip. Even the groomsmen brought the fashion heat in coordinated pink-and-white ethnic attire, setting a festive tone for the scene that had bystanders wondering if they'd stumbled onto a movie set. But wait — there's more. On Sunday, the pair hosted another round of breakfast and tea before exchanging vows again in an evening Jewish wedding at Cipriani and an after-party at Slate that lasted until 4 a.m. And on Monday, they wrapped it all up with one last post-wedding brunch and lunch send-off at the Conrad's West Ballroom before guests were bussed out of the Big Apple — likely in need of a vacation from the wedding. From boardrooms to baraats, these newlyweds made Wall Street dance to their own beat.
