- Tuesday, February 11, 2025
The YouTuber faced backlash after his distasteful comment on parents and sex on comedian Samay Raina’s YouTube reality show ‘India’s Got Latent’
By: India Weekly
A DAY after he hit the spotlight with a comment on parents and sex, trouble mounted for influencer Ranveer Allahbadia, on Tuesday (11) with Mumbai police at his doorstep, YouTube pulling down the episode of “India’s Got Latent” and the issue being raised in Parliament.
The internet personality, with over 16 million followers across social media platforms, landed in soup after the clip with his comments started making the rounds on social media on Monday and led to a massive debate on freedom of speech and what constitutes decency.
Allahbadia tried to defuse the situation by issuing a video apology where he called his comment a “lapse in judgement” but the issue has refused to die down.
Raising the matter in Parliament during Zero Hour, Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske called for a law to regulate social media. He said there was a need to enact a law to regulate social media platforms where influencers are posting “all kinds of nonsense” in the name of freedom of speech.
“The inappropriate things they said yesterday should be censored. There should be censorship on influencers’ content, and today I also raised this issue in Parliament, suggesting that action should be taken against them.If such individuals continue to spread negativity, action should be taken against them,” Mhaske told PTI.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday expressed strong concern and asked Allahabadia, Samay Raina, Apoorva Makhija, Jaspreet Singh, and Ashish Chanchlani, as well as the show’s producers Tushar Poojari and Saurabh Bothra to appear before it on February 17 in New Delhi.
The summons came after Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi said her ministry would seek a report from the NCW in this regard.
The NCW also urged Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to take immediate regulatory measures to address the prevalence of obscene content on various over-the-top (OTT) platforms and social-media streaming sites.
Video blocked
Following orders from the government, YouTube India has blocked the episode in which the controversial comment was made.
“The ‘India Has Latent’ (India’s Got Latent) episode on @YouTube with obscene and perverse comments by Ranveer Allahbadia has been blocked following Government of India orders,” Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said in a post on X.
Legal tangle
A team of Mumbai Police was spotted outside Allahbadia’s residence on Tuesday. The YouTuber is facing police complaints in Guwahati and Indore.
The Maharashtra Cyber Department has also registered the case under relevant sections of the IT Act and sought removal of all episodes – total 18 – of the comedy show.
Summonses are being sent to about 30 guests who have participated in the show from the first episode till now, a police official said.
Allahbadia, who has interviewed guests ranging from the biggest names in Bollywood to ministers like S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani, also suffered a setback for his show as singer B Praak called off an appearance on the influencer’s podcast.
“I was supposed to appear on a podcast, on Beer Biceps, and we cancelled that. Why? Since we are all seeing how pathetic his thinking is… The choice of words that he has used on Samay Raina’s show,” Praak said in an Instagram video.
From politicians to celebrities, many have called out Allahbadia’s statement offensive with some calling for a ban on the show while others batting for freedom of speech above everything.
Ravi Kishan, BJP MP from Gorakhpur, termed the whole episode sad. “The experiment that they have done, they have broken the law. I don’t know but if the parliamentary committee has taken a decision, then they will be called,” the actor-politician told PTI.
In an interview with Instant Bollywood, filmmaker Imtiaz Ali and actor Manoj Bajpayee also weighed in on the issue.
“I feel people should do what they enjoy doing. Obscenity is a subject that looks bad and anybody would agree. But people are immature so their mistakes should also not be taken seriously,” Ali said.
Bajpayee said those who are achieving success at a young age should understand the environment.
“This is why I say, please read the newspaper,” he added.
Veteran actor Raza Murad said, “Some people say such vulgar things, some people abuse and there is no restriction on them yet. But anyway, better late than never. I would like to say that democracy does not mean spreading vulgarity, our constitution does not allow this.”
Mukesh Khanna said Allahbadia’s remark was “vulgar and irresponsible”.
“The problem is the youth of today has been given too much liberty in the name of ‘Freedom of Expression’. There needs to be a limit to everything, even freedom of expression… I saw the video. He made a shameful statement, and all of them present around him, they all laughed. Nobody cared to object him,” Khanna, known for his role as superhero Shaktimaan, said on his YouTube channel.
Among the many voices criticising Allahbadia and Raina, there were a few who came out in their support.
In an Instagram story, fashion influencer Uorfi Javed said it is unfair to demand that somebody be jailed for their comments however distasteful they may be.
Javed has appeared on “India’s Got Latent” and famously walked out of it midway due to a comment by a contestant.
“Samay is a friend, I have his back but even rest of the people on the panel what they said was distasteful yes but I don’t think they deserve to go to jail for that,” she said.
Actor Rakhi Sawant also defended Allahbadia asking the public to forgive him for his mistake.
Amid all this, Raina is yet to public comment on the whole episode and is currently in the US for his comedy tour. (PTI)
