SAUDI STATE OF AFFAIRS
Activist ‘bullied’ patriotic model: suit
Saudi Arabia’s first supermodel — a social media influencer who says she loves her country — is being bullied by an “overzealous” Saudi activist furious that she won’t denounce their homeland, she claims.
Rawan Abdullah Abuzaid, a blue-eyed, blonde bombshell known as Model Roz, lost $1 millionlion worth of work because of the antiantics of Danah Almayouf, who’s slamslammed her online as a “whore,” a “homophobe” and a criminal, Abuzaid alleges in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
The 28-year-old rep for Victotoria’s Secret, Guess? and SwSwarovski came to the US in 2013 to study interior design beforefore hitting it big in fashion. Parlayinlaying a pout worthy of Angelina JolieJolie, Roz models for shoots and peddpeddles products on Instagram, where she boasts more than 10 million followers. BBut she’s being tormented by Almayouf, a photographer and outspoken critic of the Saudi government, with online slams iin Arabic, the suit claims. The trouble started when Almamayouf, 35, claimed Roz had escapcaped female repression in Saudi Arabia. The model disagreed, saying that was a “mischaracterization” and crediting “the support of her family and friends in Saudi Arabia” as key to her success, according to the filing.
Almayouf then unleashed a “scorched earth” campaign to ruin her, Roz charges in her Aug. 9 legal papers.
Almayouf labeled Roz a prostitute, accused her of failing to pay taxes and posted edited videos allegedly showing the model making racist and homophobic comments, according to the complaint.
“She does a lot of illegal things,” Almayouf allegedly wrote in one post. In another, she told a follower who accused her of being jealous of Abuzaid, “How can anyone with half a brain think I would be jealous of another human being who depends on prostitution to make a living?”
The activist then tagged companies on Twitter and Instagram that Roz worked for — and urged the model’s own followers to boycott those firms, Roz alleges.
Almayouf admitted to the boycott campaign.
“I exactly did that,” she told The Post. “I told them, ‘ How do you work with a racist and homophobe?’ I buy from these companies and I’m not going to buy from them if they work with homophobic, racist, hypocrite liars.”
Almayouf came to the US in 2012 and applied for asylum four years later, citing threats at home. The New York resident, who has since become a citizen, blames the Saudi government for Roz’s suit, saying, “I do believe the government of Saudi Arabia is behind this. They’re just trying to mess with me because I’m an activist.”
The LA-based Roz says in court papers that brands having “ceased or diminished their relationship with [her] as a result” of the backlash.
She’s seeking $5 million damages and intends to “see this case through, to end once and for all [Almayouf’s] malicious campaign of falsehoods,” said her lawyer, Michael Weinstein.