The Cancellation of Ranveer Allahbadia

Normally, for a crime there ought to be a victim. But if someone makes a lewd joke then does finding something distasteful make the listener a victim? Few might think that the joke Ranveer Allahbadia made on the Youtube show India’s Got Latent was appropriate or funny but can that be a justification for criminal cases filed across the country by people who have nothing do with the issue? FIRs against him range from Maharashtra to Assam. Allahbadia has approached the Supreme Court and it is surreal that the highest level of the judiciary is the only recourse for what ought to have got over with social disapprobation.

Instead, Allahbadia is falling on the very sword that led to his incredible success as a podcaster—the social media economy, where any issue that currently holds the attention of people must be exploited by everyone who wants a slice of that attention. Every influencer in town has joined the bandwagon of his cancellation. There might still be some rationale to that phenomenon but to what end is the Assam police summoning Allahbadia? What is the investigation that the Mumbai police can do about a joke said in a show aired to millions? What hidden conspiracies are they hoping to unveil?

Stand up comedy is built on the idea of shock and offence. The greatest comedians in the world today, from Dave Chappelle to Jimmy Carr, say outrageous things during their act but there is a compact with the audience who come expecting it. The show India’s Got Latent that got Allahbadia in trouble was premised on the same compact and they had been doing it for a while without anyone running to a police station. But they read the country wrong. The only reason the show was getting away with it was not because  the vast majority were tolerant; they were just not aware. Allahbadia’s fame brought it home to them and that is when the consequences followed.

Allahbadia apologised once as soon as the controversy broke and then Saturday again did it but this time adding that he was getting death threats and people “invaded his mother’s clinic posing as patients“. Many must feel that he deserved what he is getting but maybe they should ask themselves what ought to be the right punishment for a joke, even if it is the worst in the world?

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