German vlogger Christian Betzmann has responded over the criticism and backlash he has received in the recent past days over his insensitive remarks on the Israel-Palestine issue along with his critical opinion of Pakistan.
The social media influencer came under fire last week, when he shared his stance on the Palestinian crisis and Pakistanis protesting for freedom of Palestinians and calling for an immediate resolution to the crisis.
His remarks didn’t settle well with Pakistanis and when criticism and backlash against him reached its peak, his fiancée, actress Zoya Nasir, announced to call off their engagement.
Responding to the controversy, Betzmann has finally opened up and explained his stance over the situation. Taking to his Instagram, the vlogger shared a series of IG Stories saying, "First of all, this is not an apology," he said, calling it funny how people twist words for clout. "Pakistan has welcomed me with open arms," he said, echoing most white vloggers who have visited here, "and I'm forever grateful for that."
Betzmann said the way he had adapted the Pakistani culture, soon Pakistanis will also adapt to his culture of honest criticism. “Infrastructure wise, the country is a third world country and it also suffers immensely from population (garbage)."
"These are facts, doesn’t mean I hate the country or its people. That’s a lie. I said purely because I care about Pakistan and really want to see a change one day. But [in] order to see the positive change, we have to accept the mistakes and find a way to fix them. By ignoring the problems, we will never fix anything.”
He also clarified that he never insulted any religion or its prayers. His point was to say that prayers are only as effective as the actions that go into their fruition, "especially when there's a war."
"When I had my shahada, I had learnt that Islam is the religion of peace, [but] when I see the social media comments from Pakistanis, I don't see peace, I see hate and violence," Betzmann said.
At the end he urged "we have to make sure we represent the religion in a positive way across the world."
He also spoke about the effort that goes into making YouTube videos; videos he makes because he cares for the country and wants to contribute to the improvement of its image globally.
"For my new video, I went to Orangi Town in Karachi, which is the biggest slum in the world. I was shooting in extreme pollution [and] heat to show you that even people in the slums are good people," he said.
Earlier, announcing her split with Betzmann, Nasir had said, "It's with a heavy heart I'm announcing that Christian Betzmann and I are no longer engaged to be married. His sudden change in stance towards my culture, my country, my people and insensitivity towards my religion has lead me to take this difficult and irrevocable decision."
She concluded, "There are certain religious and social boundaries that can’t be crossed no matter what, hence, the decision to part ways."
