(Video is included at the end of this post)
Socialite Iris Kaingu held a press briefing on Saturday after her ‘naked photos stormed the internet last week. Iris In a press briefing has acknowledged that mistakes are unavoidable but Zambians should move on from her sex video that was leaked about 5 years ago and embark on building Zambia
She however emphasized that her recent leaked naked pictures which went viral did not affect her because she was merely appreciating the diverse culture of the country.
“To begin with, there are many issues I realised that we need to tackle as a country. One of which is gender stereotypes and I realised as a woman that most times women are usually misunderstood and ridiculed because of what of they wear.
“So to set the tone, I want to say that from reading the comments, which I rarely do, posted on the pictures which went viral the past three days, I would like to say publicly that most people are focused on my past which was five years ago since the sex tape happened.
“I would like to urge people on social media especially because there is cyber bullying in this country which I personally feel does not affect me negatively, but then there are many other people that I see going through the same thing and it affects them negatively.
“I want to urge the public out there that it’s not very nice the things that most people say about someone. We are all just human beings and we all have feelings, so in as much I don’t come and say that I don’t like what people say about me, I think that I want to champion the fight against cyber bullying.
“It needs to stop, you hide behind your computers and you say what you have to say but if I had to meet most people that say negative things about me in person, they wouldn’t say it, they just hide behind Facebook.
“So I would like to tell people who like to cyber bully that they need to stop, its not a very nice thing to do and I think that if you were in the same situation as another person, you wouldn’t like that to happen.”
“I really want people to move on from the sex tape. I would like to just highlight that because my family is so affected by most of the negative comments. It was not a nice thing, I apologised and I went to prison for it, I also paid a fine and I think that many people make mistakes, so I would just like people and the nation at large to move on from that scandal and focus more on what my future is, to secure my future,” she said.
“Let’s work together. As a person, I have a foundation which I want to build for prisoners. I want to build a country where prisoners are recognised and where their welfare is paid attention to, I have a lot of positive things surrounding me but most of you want to just focus on my negative publicity which is not good. I would like to urge the media to practice responsible journalism because I am just a young woman only 26 years old, so please please let’s just work together and make this country better,” she said.
“And that picture is actually intended for a project that I am working on. It’s unfortunate that it was leaked before it’s time. I know most of you say Iris you like to be naked, no. I can’t come to this function in a bikini or naked because that’s unacceptable but when I am at the beach or at the pool I have to be in my bikinis because there you can’t be fully dressed up. So I would like us to see the bigger picture and I want to urge women out there that we need to partner with each other, we are not enemies and if we work together we can make a better Zambia,” Iris said .
SEE HER FULL PRESS BRIEFING VIDEO