Here's what All India Bakchod founders are up to now
Seven months after the comedy collective went quiet amid a #MeToo storm, All India Bakchod has released a statement. Founded by Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya, AIB abruptly stopped producing new content in October after Bhat, Khamba and former AIB employee Utsav Chakraborty got embroiled in a sexual harassment case. Here's what AIB and its founders are up to now.
In a new statement on Wednesday, AIB revealed that after the events of October, several of their partners stepped away from the organization, forcing them to let go of their office space and staff overnight. "The AIB YouTube channel is for all intents and purposes, dead for the foreseeable future - there will be no new sketches anytime soon," the statement read.
"We maintain that Tanmay Bhat's lapse of judgement regarding Utsav Chakraborty was egregious. As a result, even though, Tanmay Bhat's suspension has been lifted, he will no longer hold the position of CEO," the statement read. The statement added that Khamba had withdrawn himself from an External Committee (EC) investigation. "The EC was unable to conclude the investigation on account of his withdrawal."
According to the statement, Joshi and Shakya will remain on board to manage the remaining affairs at AIB. However, it added, that the two will also continue to pursue their solo interests. Neither Joshi nor Shakya has released any independent statements.
Explaining why he withdrew from the investigation, Khamba, in a separate statement, claimed, "The committee constituted was neither a court/tribunal, nor an internal complaints committee set up under the POSH Act." He also cited "procedural lapses". He maintained that he was willing to "cooperate with any committee that is constituted fairly" and also announced his new venture, Light@27, a comedy consultancy.
Bhat acknowledged his "failings as a leader and as an individual" and extended an apology to the people affected by his actions, his friends and his colleagues. "In any leadership capacity in the future, I'll strive to build spaces in which women feel welcomed, valued, safe, heard and nurtured. I'm committing to a daily process of unlearning, rewiring, and learning," Bhat wrote on Instagram.
Khamba was accused of sexual harassment by his former partner, however, he denied the allegations. Bhat, on the other hand, had been accused of knowing about sexual harassment allegations against Chakraborty, who used to work for AIB, but never acting on them. In a statement on October 8, AIB had announced that both Khamba was sent on leave while Bhat "stepped away" as CEO.
