‘Stop being a stooge’: Kunal Kamra hits out at T-Series

Kunal Kamra alleges T-Series issued a copyright strike on his stand-up video, claiming fair use for his parody of a song about Eknath Shinde.

Mumbai: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, under fire for his song referring to Eknath Shinde as a traitor, has accused music company T-Series of issuing a copyright strike on his latest stand-up video, ‘Naya Bharat’, which features the song.

Kunal Kamra, without taking names, seemingly mocked Eknath Shinde by modifying a song from 'Dil Toh Pagal Hai' movie. (Screengrab/X/@kunalkamra88)

In a post on social media platform X, Kamra claimed that he did not use the original lyrics of the song in question. “Hello @TSeries, stop being a stooge. Parody & satire come under fair use legally. I haven’t used the lyrics or the original instrumental of the song. If you take this video down, every cover song/ dance video can be taken down. Creators, please take note of this,” Kamra said in the post.

The comedian also accused monopolies in India of behaving like a “mafia”. “So please watch/ download this special before it’s taken down,” he said.

A T-Series spokesperson confirmed that the company had filed a copyright complaint against Kamra’s comedy special that was uploaded to YouTube on Sunday night. “Mr Kunal Kamra has not taken any authorisation or approval for the usage of the underlying musical work in the song. Hence, the content has been blocked for infringement of composition rights,” the spokesperson said.

To be sure, when HT accessed Kamra’s video at 8:20pm on Wednesday, the video was still there and had amassed 6.8 million views. Pre-roll advertisements were also visible, thereby allowing him to monetise the content.

T-Series holds the copyright for at least one song that Kamra parodied in his video. The comedian had parodied the song “Hawa Hawai” from the movie Mr India to mock how Indian taxpayers’ money is wasted by the government.

HT has reached out to YouTube and Kamra for more information.