INFLUENCER Ranveer Allahbadia has apologised for his controversial remark that led to many calling for a ban on his podcast and politicians, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Opposition leaders of the State, criticising him for exploiting freedom of speech. Allahbadia -- who has over 6,00,000 followers on X, 4.5 million on Instagram and 10.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel -- became one of the trending topics on social media after comment on Samay Raina’s YouTube reality show “India’s Got Latent” gained traction. On the comedy reality series, popular among today’s youth for its edgy bordering on offensive content, Allahbadia asked a question to a contestant on parents and sex, which has been panned by many and led to a BJP functionary lodging a police complaint here against the makers, judges and participants of show. In an apology video on X on Monday, Allahbadia admitted that his comment was not only inappropriate, but also not funny.

 

“Comedy is not my forte. Just here to say sorry,” the YouTuber, popularly known as BeerBiceps, said in the video. “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, personally, had a lapse in judgement. It wasn’t cool on my part.” Maharashtra CM Fadnavis said though he hasn’t seen the clip in question, he cautioned people about the limits of freedom of speech. Meanwhile, a complaint has been filed before a Bandra court by Nikhil Ruparel, a member of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), a Congress wing, seeking probe against the show “India’s Got Latent”, its judges and participants, including Allahbadia and Raina, over use of abusive language and vulgar content.

 

An official from NCW said that they were looking into the matter. Sharing Misra’s post, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “This isn’t creative. It’s pervert. And we can’t normalise perverse behaviour as cool. The fact that this sick comment met loud applause must worry us all.” Shiv Sena leader Raju Waghmare said using such language in the state of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was unacceptable. “We should not misuse the right of Freedom of Speech. Shiv Sena won’t tolerate it,” Waghmare. The NHRC asked YouTube to take an “urgent action” against Allahbadia and remove the episode in which he allegedly made offensive remarks from the popular platform.