Samay Raina issues apology to SC over disability jokes
Comedian Samay Raina has issued an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court after making offensive jokes about people with disabilities on his podcast, India's Got Latent.
In his August 2024 affidavit, he said he never meant to hurt anyone and promised to be more thoughtful in future.
The court, though, called out his earlier response for sounding more like an excuse than a real apology.
Court's directions to Raina, others
The judges told Raina and four other influencers to publicly apologize on their own platforms.
They made it clear that freedom of speech doesn't cover commercial content that insults marginalized groups.
The court also asked the Centre to create clear guidelines for dealing with offensive social media posts—and warned there will be penalties if these aren't followed.
Why was Raina criticized?
Raina landed in hot water after joking about rare genetic disorders like spinal muscular atrophy.
He and others—including podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia—were told to apologize following complaints from the Cure SMA Foundation of India.