KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has sued comedian Harith Iskander Musa over his stand-up comedy which she claimed mocked and insulted her.
Rosmah filed the lawsuit through Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak at the High Court on June 9.
In her statement of claim that was sighted by The Star, Rosmah said that Harith performed a stand-up comedy show entitled “Harith Iskander: The Outspoken Comedy Tour” at the Swiss-Garden Hotel, Melaka, on Jan 17.
The wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that during the performance, Harith had personally and intentionally made a defamatory statement through a visual display about her before a large audience at the event.
“During the performance, the defendant had displayed images of scary mythological creatures in the Malaysian community, including but not limited to ‘toyol’, ‘pontianak’ and ‘pocong’ and subsequently displayed the plaintiff’s image to the audience as part of the narrative in the joke by the defendant,” the statement said.
The plaintiff claimed the defendant made statements that carried the meaning that a person looking at the rear view mirror while driving on a dark road would see a scary figure, clearly portraying the plaintiff as a scary figure.
The plaintiff contended that the defamatory statements were made with the intention to hurt the plaintiff’s reputation and good name and to insult her with body shaming, with the defendant’s action harming her reputation, good name, dignity and social standing.
She is seeking an unconditional apology from Harith and unspecified general, aggravated and exemplary damages as well as other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
In his statement of defence, Harith denied that his performance was malicious or defamatory to the plaintiff.
Harith said while the plaintiff’s reliance for the lawsuit was on two videos of his stand-up comedy uploaded on TikTok, the videos were not the entirety of the comedy show.
He said the incomplete videos were uploaded on the platform by a third party without his consent or knowledge, which was against the house rules during the show.
Harith contended that prior to starting his show, he had communicated a set of house rules and disclaimers, which he would be relying on throughout the trial of Rosmah’s legal action.
He also pleaded that Rosmah’s image was displayed “in a split second”, which he claimed was less than five seconds from the entire 90-minute duration of the show.
“The display was momentary as it was not the main theme or the focus of the defendant’s show. It was not recurring and could not be separated from the entire context of the comedy show,” he added.
Rosmah’s lawyer Mohamed Baharudeen Mohamed Ariff told the press that the court has instructed the plaintiff to file her reply to the statement of defence by July 30.
The case is fixed for case management via e-review on July 31.
