15 August,2024 06:56 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Samay Raina
Indian stand-up comedian and content creator Samay Raina, known for his humour and popular chess streams, recently found himself in hot water over a series of tweets regarding abortion rights. His insensitive and dismissive remarks have resurfaced, sparking outrage online.
Indian comedian Samay Raina's tweets regarding abortion rights get slammed
One Instagram creator reacted to a recent roast Samay posted, in which he jokingly asks a man, "What's your trauma?" and follows up with "Mama ne chua hai bachpan mei? (Did an uncle touch you inappropriately in your childhood?)" - seemingly making light of sexual assault.
An influencer reposted the clip with a caption expressing her distaste for this type of humour, especially during a time when the nation is still reeling from the Kolkata rape-murder case. She also included a series of Samay's tweets that mocked abortion rights.
The tweet controversy dates back to 2022 when Samay posted a series of tweets trivializing abortion rights. In these tweets, Raina made jokes that many netizens found offensive, with his humour coming across as tone-deaf.
Samay Raina being called out as he should
byu/Influenzavirus11 inInstaCelebsGossip
In one tweet, Samay is quoted as saying, "Parso maine aadha ghanta sochke meri girlfriend pe ek funny tweet likha tha. Usko pasand nahi aaya toh usne delete karwa diya. Kal ko jabh mai abortion karwaane bolu tabh mat bolna my body my choice." (Translation: "The other day, I spent half an hour coming up with a funny tweet about my girlfriend. She didn't like it, so she made me delete it. Tomorrow, if I ask for an abortion, don't tell me 'my body, my choice.'")
Why was Samay in the news recently?
This isn't the first time Samay has faced backlash. Recently, Kusha Kapila also called him out for his âdehumanizing' joke on a sensitive topic like her divorce.
Kusha took to her YouTube community notes and shared her thoughts. She wrote, "Friends, a recent roast I was a part of has led a lot of my female and queer followers to question why did I sit through something that could have been completely avoided and WITH GOOD REASON. Here's my two cents: 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 âbeing 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 dehumanised me. It was shockingly unkind," she added.
She continued, "Mine was the first episode to be shot (was shot in January) so everyone had a fair bit of learnings post shoot which is why in other episodes, boundaries haven't been crossed, especially with women. Last six months since the episode was shot, I have been a part of various calls and negotiations for every word, every joke, every slur (literal begging has happened). If I hadn't let the episode go live, I would have been called a coward and a crybaby and a different kind of trolling would have ensued."
Kusha concluded, "This has been a huge learning for me too since over the course of last six months during negotiations, I have been told that I deserve these jokes and that as a divorced woman, I should have seen this coming. Maybe I should have and maybe silence on this topic is seen as cowardice but it's mostly choosing peace over endless discourse that will likely villainise women. Simultaneously, when you don't speak, people also choose to believe whatever they want to. So this is me clearing the air as much as I can and advising women artists to have strict riders in place."
