[VIDEO] Fizi Melts Hearts By Apologising To Upin And Ipin For Insensitive Comment
Fizi, a character on the popular 'Upin & Ipin' TV series, previously made an insensitive remark about orphans.
By Alyssa Pong — 04 Jun 2020, 05:56 PM
Animated character Fizi's remark on an episode of Upin & Ipin was recently met with backlash from fans
The series' Syahdunya Syawal episode, a Hari Raya special, was first aired on 24 May on MNCTV in Indonesia.
In it, Upin asks what happens to those without mothers after another character, Mail mentions the saying, "Heaven is beneath a mother's feet".
Responding to his question, the supporting character Fizi makes a controversial remark: "No heaven for orphans."
On the show, the twins are depicted as living under the care of their sister Kak Ros and their grandmother Mak Uda.
The episode soon became viral as the hashtag 'Fizi' trended on Twitter with over 200,000 tweets
Offended fans took to Twitter to condemn the character, with numerous posts reading, "Fizi is cancelled."
Nur Naquyah Burhanuddin, creative content director of Les' Copaque - the company behind Upin & Ipin - told Harian Metro that she believes the reason why the episode went viral was because "Indonesian viewers love and care deeply about Upin & Ipin".
She noted that the scene was originally intended to get audiences to question, "Where is heaven for orphans?", a thought she considers still prevalent in society today.
But Nur Naquyah understood that the backlash was not an "attack against the production company", but a plea for an apology to be released.
Two days later, the scene was uploaded to the official Upin & Ipin Instagram page, along with the caption "Forgive Fizi"
Many commenters were unimpressed, demanding that the character explain himself.
Another post with the caption, "Fizi truly misspoke the other day. But, if many people request it, he will make an apology video for Upin and Ipin", was uploaded on their Instagram on 29 May.
After receiving over 2,200 comments on that Instagram post, the creators of the show released an animated apology video
The apology video took two days to make and was released on 2 June.
In it, Fizi tells Upin and Ipin, "I did not mean to hurt your feelings the other day."
He continues, "After talking to Mail, I have realised what I did wrong, so please don't be angry with me anymore."
Overall, the video had an overwhelming positive response with over six million views
Many were relieved to see an actual apology released, particularly parents whose kids watch the show, whilst others found it cute and tear-jerking. A few viewers even wrote that they had forgiven Fizi.
Several commenters applauded Upin and Ipin's calm and understanding reaction to the apology.
