Latest news with #OnijahAndrewRobinson
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Viral New Yorker Who Refused To Leave Pakistan Finally Returns Home After Dubai Pit Stop
Onijah Andrew Robinson is back in the big apple. The viral star known to many as 'The American in Pakistan' is finally back on New York City soil after traveling to the Middle Eastern country, causing a stir, and hitting up Dubai on her way back to the States. Recorded by Johnny Nunez, Robinson was seen hopping out of a black SUV Thursday (April 4) in Times Square, telling viewers to follow her manger, agent, and glam squad. 'I'm glad to be back in New York,' she added. 'I'm glad about that, I'm happy about that.' Another clip found her discussing her time in Dubai, saying, 'I didn't go to jail, I was just stuck in Dubai. It was a situation that happened in Dubai that I couldn't get over at the time and that was it. I was there for a month.' The 33-year-old New York native went viral at the top of 2025 for her trip to Pakistan, where she intended to marry 19-year-old Nidal Ahmed Memon, whom she had been dating online. Upon her October 2024 arrival, however, those plans were abandoned, with reports indicating Memon's parents did not approve of the union. While Robinson's 30 day visa reportedly expired in November, she refused to leave the country. By February 2025, Robinson was a viral sensation for her witty quips and absurd demands spread via both her own TikTok and recordings from locals and shared online. In one widely-shared clip, she exclaims 'I'm asking for 100K or more. I need 20K by this week, in my pockets, in cash,' noting, 'That's a demand to the government.' She also held what appeared to be press conferences, where she shared plans to 'rebuild' Pakistan, asked for 'two thousand or more every week', and 'more than five thousand dollars in USD' from the government. She eventually agreed to leave Pakistan, only to stop in Dubai before her recent return. Check out one of her most viral moments below. More from American Woman Who Refused To Leave Pakistan Reportedly Spotted In Dubai Woman Who Refused To Leave Pakistan After Failed Marriage Is Finally Returning To United States Diddy Arrested In New York For Racketeering Conspiracy, Sex Trafficking By Force, And More
Express Tribune
16-02-2025
- Express Tribune
US woman in love with Pakistani man detained in Dubai
Listen to article An American woman, who had spent nearly four months in Karachi after falling in love with a Pakistani man, has been detained in Dubai after failing to board her flight to the United States. According to sources, Onijah Andrew Robinson departed from Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on February 7 via flight EK603 to Dubai, where she was scheduled to take EK203 to New York. However, she did not board her connecting flight and instead remained in Dubai on an on-arrival visa. Her family in New York was expecting her arrival, but when she did not reach the US, authorities launched an inquiry. Reports suggest that after videos of her surfaced on social media, US officials contacted UAE authorities, leading to restrictions on her movement and eventual detention. Despite being taken into protective custody, authorities face challenges in deporting her. Since she has not violated any laws and is on a valid visit visa, she cannot be forcibly removed. Additionally, airline officials are reportedly hesitant to allow her on a 15-hour flight due to security concerns. Officials suggest that the only way forward is to convince her to board a flight voluntarily.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Yahoo
US woman who went viral after flying to Pakistan to marry teenager finally leaves country
An American woman who became a social media sensation after flying to Pakistan to marry a teenager has finally left the country, reports say. Onijah Andrew Robinson, 33, traveled to Karachi in October last year to meet and marry Nidal Ahmed Memon – a 19-year-old Pakistani man. The New Yorker was ultimately rejected by the teenager, after his family is said to have objected to their relationship. Ms Robinson's 30 day visa reportedly expired in November but she refused to leave the country, with her plight going viral thanks to clips widely shared on Instagram and TikTok. Now, some four months later, local media says she has finally left Pakistan. Pakistani outlet Geo News stated that Ms Robinson boarded a flight from Karachi on Friday, with footage showing local police seeing her off at the airport. The News International - one of the country's largest English language newspapers - said that a medical board had declared her fit to travel having discharged her from a stay in hospital. She was persuaded to return home by US consulate staff in Karachi, who also arranged her ticket, the newspaper added. But to further muddy the waters in the strange saga, videos were posted to social media on Monday claiming to be of Ms Robinson in Dubai. Her flight home to the US on Friday was via Dubai, News International said, but in one Instagram clip she is seen posing for selfies with a large group of smiling men surrounding her on an outside street. A caption on the clip says Ms Robinson had 'attracted a new fanbase in Dubai'. During her extended stay in Pakistan, she held a bizarre press conference in which she asked the government for '100k or more', claiming it was to improve vital services in the country such as infrastructure and local transport. In another, she asked for 'two thousand or more every week', 'more than five thousand dollars in USD', 'I want 20K up front, 5K-10K to stay here every week, and I want those demands from the government right away', according to the spate of videos that were circulated on TikTok. The Independent has contacted the US consulate in Karachi for comment.
Bloomberg
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Those Memes of an American Woman in Pakistan? Not Funny
Every once in a while, a jaw-dropping story takes TikTok by storm and morphs into a meme. This week, it was the tale of 33-year-old New Yorker Onijah Andrew Robinson, who flew to Karachi, Pakistan to be with Nidal Ahmed Memon, a 19-year-old man she reportedly met online. It's become a viral sensation that offers an unfortunate and familiar lesson. When properly crafted, memes are one of the high forms of modern humor. When steeped in cruelty, they're a reminder that they also need guardrails. There's often a fine line between hopping on a harmless trend and exploitation. And in an era when images and soundbites can become untethered from whatever inspired them, creators and companies should prioritize meme literacy, and social media outlets should help provide more context.
Express Tribune
05-02-2025
- Express Tribune
A ‘viral' tragedy exposing society's failings in love, accountability, and gender
"You talk too much"—I've dreamt of saying this to so many men in my life, quite literally. But I, a brown girl in a repressed household, have no liberty to do so. How can I tell a man to shut up? How can I even dare to think that? But a woman with an American passport said it, and I won't lie—I enjoyed every second of it. After all, how often do we see a Pakistani man getting a shut-up call? Onijah Andrew Robinson, a 33-year-old woman, came to Pakistan to live with her partner, Nidal Ahmed Memon, an 18-year-old boy from Karachi. Reportedly, they were already married. Now, here's where everything goes wrong—not really a surprise, because when does a woman marry a Pakistani man and have everything go right for her? The guy's mother blatantly rejected her, apparently because she's not conventionally pretty—she's not fair, doesn't have blue eyes, and lacks everything a typical Pakistani mother of a son (who's just a mama's boy, probably spending all his time online playing games or chatting with foreign women in hopes of an easy ticket abroad) would approve of. So, this woman is left stranded. She's abandoned and camping in front of the man's house, and suddenly, everyone goes crazy—she's now a viral sensation. But becoming a viral sensation in Pakistan isn't that hard. All you have to do is be really rich, privileged, fair-skinned, or from a white country. So even though she's stranded, she still gets a lot of attention. Suddenly, a third-world country with every problem known to mankind forgets everything and fixates on how this woman will navigate her way forward. She becomes the subject of memes, and from her looks to her history, everything is public. She's the topic of every dinner table discussion—everyone is sharing their two cents about her while their own lives are in shambles. However, these discussions remain shallow, and no one addresses a deeply rooted cultural problem: men taking the easy way out by making a complete fool of a woman—and never being held accountable. In later news reports, it was revealed that Onijah has Bipolar Disorder, which can make people act impulsively. I mean, who in their right mind falls in love online, marries a man half their age, and then travels across continents—only to act obsessively in love and be treated like a spectacle? She's being reduced to a viral hot topic, a joke, a piece of meat for shallow conversations. And let's not forget Memon—the reason she's here and the reason she's become one massive joke—is nowhere to be seen. This guy has disappeared off the face of the earth, yet no one is asking the real question: What was an 18-year-old boy doing online, leading a woman on, making her believe in a future, and pushing her to the point where she felt confident enough to travel all this way—only for it to end in chaos? Secondly, the way her looks are being discussed publicly is yet another disgrace this society fails to recognise. It's 2025, and we're still making body-shaming and skin-shaming jokes. This only proves that no matter what a woman does, she will always be reduced to her appearance—because, after all, what is a girl if not pretty? This entire fiasco, which has been going on for a week now, leaves us with many questions. We need to take a step back and rethink the institution of marriage in this country. Last I checked, marriage was supposed to be about companionship—not just about looks or personal gain. We also need to question where our youth, especially young men, are headed. The South Asian familial system is heavily biased towards giving sons the best of both worlds while completely ignoring daughters. But despite this privilege, men aren't out there conquering the world—they're sitting behind screens, looking for an easy way out through women. So what's all the tough persona for? Just come clean. Last but not least, we as a nation need to learn that not everything is a joke. This is a matter of serious concern—how a mentally ill woman was led on by an 18-year-old boy, with no regard for her emotional state. Once she arrived here, the family felt it was okay to abandon her on the streets. A country that is already so unsafe for women—this isn't just me 'claiming' it; statistics have shown this year after year—continues to fail its women, and now we've made foreign women experience it too. So, ease up on the memes and focus on raising your sons better.
