Neeti Mohan, Diljit Dosanjh, Shankar Mahadevan who are currently judging the 3rd season of reality show Rising Star have found themselves amid controversy. In wake of the #Metoo movement in India, twitter agreed that the three dismissed sexual harassment and turned it into a joke.
The episode that aired over the weekend saw two contestants using words such as ‘kadak and raapchik in a laal saree’ to describe Neeti. Immediately Neeti ranted against their cheat language and threatened to kick them out.
The singer stated, “I am representing all the girls here and I don’t allow this. No one can talk to me, or any girl like this in this country or any country. We three judges don’t approve this, the show doesn’t approve this, the channel doesn’t approve this way of talking.”
Instead of taking action or letting them off on a warning, Neeti however chose to laugh it out and call it a prank. Shankar and Diljit also chimed it and let the incident slide as a joke.
Gender equality activist, Kirthi Jayakumar and Chinmayi Sirpaada took to their twitter account to talk about it, saying serious sexual harassment is not a joke and it should not be belittled as a ‘mazak’ (joke).
Take a look:
