Samay Raina on friendship with Kusha Kapila post roast controversy: 'We rarely talk but...'

Samay Raina and Kusha Kapila

Comedian Samay Raina and content creator/actress Kusha Kapila had landed in a controversy not so long ago after a roast session on the internet. Raina who is known for his bold, unfiltered comedy was brutal with his roast for Kusha Kapila on the show hosted by Ashish Solanki. So much that the original video had some of the lines censored form the roast. Many had questioned Kapila on why she consented to be on the show.

Now, Samay Raina has opened up about the roast and how it impacted his friendship with Kapila. The comedian had hosted an AMA session on Reddit where he was answering questions from his fans.

In middle of the session, one user asked, "Who's your fav comedian? And how do you try to stay out of controversies? How's your friendship with kusha now?"

Responding to the question in detail, Raina said, "I don't have a favourite comedian, I have favourite jokes. I love and learn from sooo many comics that the list won't stop if I start writing it down. I don't chase controversies, I just be myself and something or the other happens. Learning to deal with it smoothly. Friendship with Kusha is not the same, we rarely talk but I spoke to her recently and it was great! I am fond of her regardless. I hope someday she and i can laugh about everything openly but that day has time. Always rooting for her success."

Kusha Kapila's roast by Samay

Samay Raina was among the panelists on Ashish Solanki's show, where Kusha Kapila appeared as a judge. During Kapila's appearance on the show, Samay made several jokes about Kusha's divorce and sex life. The jokes were so brutal that Ashish had to censor them while posting the video on his YouTube channel. While many called out Samay for his dark comments, several people questioned Kusha for sitting through the jokes. However, Kusha later clarified that she did not approve of the jokes beforehand and sat through the roast as a sign of resilience.

Kusha later blocked Samay Raina and wrote in her YouTube community notes, "It was done in good faith and for a friend. Nobody has been paid (neither comics nor guests) for it, so the argument that people are ‘being paid big fat cheques to hear their insults' is baseless."

"Jokes weren't shared beforehand (as it's done in all roast formats in the West), so I had no idea what was in store for me. Maybe I should have asked for a script and known better, but since friends were involved, I didn't. Rookie mistake. While I endured some of the really raspy jokes in front of a live audience and technicians, I absolutely was not okay for it to play for millions of people since some jokes straight-up dehumanized me. It was shockingly unkind," she added.