Before he became a wealthy businessman who could afford to splurge on luxury goods, Datuk Aliff Syukri admitted he too went through a phase of wearing knock-offs.

The entrepreneur-turned-actor-singer made the revelation when asked to comment about the recent controversy surrounding popular celebrities who were “busted” for wearing counterfeit goods.

“Honestly, I used to wear fake luxury goods too when I first ventured into business. It was what I could afford then.

“To me it’s not wrong for anyone to wear fake items because it’s not like they robbed them off someone,” he said in a recent news report.

“But I suppose it’s a different story for mistresses or toy boys who are financially supported – they could probably afford to wear original products,” he joked.

Aliff, 30, said that he only started to purchase authentic designer brands when his business was thriving.

Netizens aren’t too happy about the businessman’s nonchalance. Many bombarded the comments section with sarcasm or outright displeasure. 

Some of them wrote,

“What an idiotic statement, especially from a businessman. Guess it’s ok then to buy D’ herbs fake products?”

“This person does not understand the concept of intellectual property.”

“Lol. Isn’t he the one who went berserk in Vietnam about his shawl design being counterfeited and then re-branded as ‘naelofar’? He’s so dumb.”

“Maybe he doesn’t care about intellectual property because he has no intelligence.”

The recent controversy which saw an Instagram page @streetwearbustamy “busting” local celebs for sporting fake designer gear caused a stir on social media and drew mixed opinions from celebrities.

While celebs like singer Aiman Tino admitted to wearing fake goods, others like Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor stood strongly against consumers who contribute towards the counterfeit market.

Source: NST