Stand-up comedian Varun Grover has been criticised on social media for a 7 year old sexist joke on actress Ayesha Takia. A clip from his show back in 2012 has been circulated online. The tweet by Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit does not just attack the comedian but also actresses like Shabana Azmi, Richa Chadha, Swara Bhasker and Nandita Das.
The tweet read, “Silence of @AzmiShabana ji @RichaChadha @ReallySwara @nanditadas on this misogynistic statement by @varungrover where he literally abuses & molests @Ayeshatakia is sad. I appeal to all those who respect d dignity and respect of women to name and shame this so called comedian [sic],”
The comment made by Varun was while he was making a joke on Amitabh Bachchan being a part of almost every project in India. “He is like everywhere. He is like aise nikal rahe hai, itne zyada nikal rahe hai jaise Ayesha Takia ke boobs,” Varun said on the show.
Actor Anup Soni too reacted to the clip: “@varungrover this is a bad one…Really bad one…This is not comedy.”
While Varun and Ayesha have not reacted to the tweet or the clip, Richa responded to Ashoke’s tweet as she deals with trolls. “Sir, for you and for all those waiting to attack me again, I’d just like to say so much goes on in our country on a daily basis,(crime or otherwise), that for me to outrage at the speed with which you expect, I’d have to leave my day job as an actor and sit on Twitter all day.”
