Why is Ranveer Allahbadia's ‘lapse in judgement’ under Mumbai police scanner?
Youtuber Ranveer Allahbadia confessed that his comment as a ‘judge’ in the “India's Got Latent” show was “inappropriate” and “wasn't even funny”.
A complaint was registered with the Mumbai police against YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, social media influencer Apoorva Makhija, comedian Samay Raina, and the organizers of the show 'India's Got Latent', after the ‘Beer Biceps’ podcast show host made a controversial remark that created an outrage in social media.
The complainant said that abusive language was used on the show and demanded strict legal action against the accused.
What did Ranveer Allahbadia say?
The influencer passed the remark as a ‘question’ to a contestant who participated in the latest episode of comedian Samay Raina’s show 'India’s Got Latent' as a ‘judge’. Ranveer was accompanied by Samay Raina, Ashish Chanchlani, Apoorva Mukhija aka The Rebel Kid and others.
“Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day or join them to finish it once and for all?” Ranveer asked a contestant.
His fellow ‘judges’ also appeared to have been taken aback by Ranveer's remark.
“What the f***?” Raina retorted. “Kya ho gaya hai Ranveer bhai ko? another ‘judge’ on the show was heard asking.
Widespread outrage
Politicians were quick to take note of Ranveer's remarks. Social media users were unforgiving in their criticism.
“Meet the perverted creators who are shaping our country’s creative economy. I am sure each one has a following of millions. This content is not designated as adult content — it can be seen with ease even by a child if the algorithm takes him or her there. The creators or the platform have zero sense of responsibility,” posted entrepreneur Neelesh Mishra on X
“I am also not surprised at all that four people at the desk — and lots in the audience — celebrated this and had a great laugh. You, the audience, normalised and celebrated this and people like these,” he added.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that an individual's freedom of speech ends when he/she “encroaches upon the freedom of others”. He also said that action should be taken if someone violates rules.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said that she will raise Ranveer's remarks at the parliamentary standing committee for IT “for the kind of vulgar, blasphemous content that is passed off as comedy.”
“We need to set boundaries since these platforms influence young minds and they are passing off absolute rubbish as content. The language used by Ranveer Allahabadia which was also actively encouraged by others on that ‘comedy panel’ is unacceptable,” she added.
Ranveer's apology
Ranveer apologised for his controversial comment on the show and described the whole episode as a “lapse in judgment”.
“My comment was not just inappropriate, it wasn't even funny. Comedy is not my forte. Just here to say sorry,” he said in a video statement.
“Many of you asked if this is how I wish to use my platform. Obviously, this is not how I wish to use my platform. I am not going to give any context, justification or reasoning behind whatever happened. I am just here for an apology. I had a lapse in judgement. It wasn't cool on my part,” Ranveer said.
“Family is the last thing that I would ever disrespect. Need to use this platform better and that's been my learning from this whole experience. I promise to just get better. Have asked the makers of the video to remove the insensitive sections from the video and all I can say in the end is sorry. I hope you can forgive me as a human being,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)