Neeraj Chopra event in Lucknow sees empty seats and low attendance, internet angered by old video
An old video from Neeraj Chopra's Lucknow visit shows empty seats, angering social media users who called it disrespectful to the star athelete.
An old video from Neeraj Chopra's Lucknow visit shows empty seats at an event, angering social media users who called it disrespectful to the star athelete. Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra attended the launch of a sportswear store in Lucknow last month. However, a video from the event that is currently going viral online appears to show that the event was sparsely attended, with only a handful of people turning up to watch India’s star athlete.
Here's what happened
Neeraj Chopra, 26, was in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh last month for the opening of a store in a prominent mall. A video from the event that has since surfaced online shows the Olympic medallist sitting onstage with an interviewer.
Social media users were annoyed to see how sparsely attended the event was, considering that Neeraj Chopra scripted history at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by becoming the first Indian to win a gold in athletics.
Footage from the event shows empty seats towards the back. The video was shared on Instagram by a page called Lucknowi Vibes with a caption suggesting that many more people would have shown up to watch a Bollywood actor or actress. “Why would anyone show up to watch someone who represented the country,” read the caption.
The video has since been deleted from Instagram.
People in the comments section were shocked by the empty seats and low attendance. Some blamed organisers for not promoting the event more.
“I was there… and I actually felt bad,” wrote one Instagram user in Hindi.
“Right, people don’t care about their country. They only care about entertainment,” another said.“I blame the organising team as well . No proper prior information and advertisement,” a commenter added.
However, sources say that the video was taken before the event began and the seats later filled up.
During his visit to Lucknow, Chopra also addressed students and official at La Martiniere College and broke his strict diet to enjoy snacks at the famous Sharmaji Ki Chai.