Jeremy McLellan is an American stand up comedian who visited Pakistan last year and caused quite a stir. With regular updates on his social media handles, his take on the life inside Pakistan was a refreshing perspective. He also made quite an extensive effort to familiarize himself with the local jargon such as “Pindi Boys” and frequently joked about his association with them.
While he was here, he toured Islamabad and Lahore and performed six shows all sold out. His journey got traction when he had to mediate a spat the cities of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and later on his unfortunate incident of food poisoning at one of the famous hotels in Islamabad. He also organized a dental drive at one of the slum areas to provide underprivileged people a chance at basic health care.
“People love seeing an outsider’s perspective on their local issues.”
Jeremy is no stranger to advocating for the rights of Palestinians and Kashmiris. He has used his influence countless times to address situations of violence and call out governments responsible for it. However, things got a little sour when on April 7th, he tweeted out a message he got from a Kashmiri fan telling him about the state of affairs in Srinagar.
As he tweeted this out, it didnt take long for some Indian trolls to start a smear campaign. One of them asked how much “daily wage” he got from Pakistan to which Jeremy curtly replied that if he did, he’d have a much nicer car and house. LOL. Expanding on the whole Indian troll business, he jokingly asked that the rumors stop because his wife was asking him about where the “money” is.
And when another tried to hold him accountable for drone strikes carried out by US in Pakistan and Afghanistan, McLellan said “How many innocents have I killed? Zero. My government, on the other hand, has killed a lot, and I’ve spoken out against it from the beginning. You should try it sometime.”
McLellan has not only spoken out against New Delhi in Indian held Kashmir but also the other marginalised groups all over the world as well.
