DEBUNKED: Asif Says He and Mudasir Remain Friends Despite Upsetting Reports

On Friday of last week a disturbing piece of news tore across the internet, racking up thousands of shares. A high-volume meme tweeter who goes by "@haarleyquin" posted that Asif, a Pakistani man whose tumultuous relationship with his best pals has gone viral several times, broke up with his bosom buddy Mudasir yet again.

"[There] has been an update to the salman/mudasir/asif story….it now has three parts," @haarleyquin wrote in a tweet that was posted on Friday and contained an image of Asif linking arms with his friend Salman with the text "Mudasir u can cry alone now" superimposed over the photo. It was shocking news, to say the least.

I interviewed Asif less than a year ago, in October, and at the time he told me that he, Mudasir, and Salman were an inseparable trio. They had turned their interpersonal drama, which began in 2015 when Asif dumped best bro Mudasir for Salman because he was being too "proudy," into a story about forgiveness and friendship. Asif reconnected with Mudasir and all three of them started hanging out.

What could break the very strange and special bond that these three share, a friendship forged in the fires of memehood, I wondered? I had to find out. So, I reached out to Asif over Facebook.

"Dear," Asif wrote me (he always calls me "dear"), "that's just old meme which people still sharing." According to Asif, he, Salman, and Mudasir are all still friends and not much has changed on that front since we last spoke.

Read More: A Year After Ending and Regaining Friendship With Mudasir, Asif Regrets Nothing

Indeed, an image identical to the one shared by @haarleyquin in a tweet on Friday (sans the "Mudasir u can cry alone now" text) appeared on Asif's personal Facebook page in 2014.

The fact that there's a meme going around implying that he and his pal Mudasir are no longer on speaking terms (one that Asif himself didn't start) makes him feel "bad," he continued, "because we three are friends"

I reached out to @haarleyquin to find out how they mixed up an old meme for a fresh one, but haven't received a response yet.

In any case, I asked Asif if he had a message to the world, and especially to people who might be thinking that his relationship with Mudasir is once again in tatters. Here it is, in full and (mostly) unedited except for where emojis are supposed to be:

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