Randeep Hooda's Mayawati 'joke': Actor removed from UN environmental treaty
In the age of the Internet and social media, nothing is getting brushed under the carpet. The latest star to be held accountable is suave actor Randeep Hooda. After an old video of him making a tasteless joke on former UP CM Mayawati resurfaced, netizens have been demanding his arrest. And now, he has been removed as the ambassador of UN's environmental treaty.
Hooda was made the ambassador of the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), last February. The CMS Secretariat said that they found the actor's comments "offensive," which "did not reflect the values" of the UN or CMS. Also called the Bonn Convention, it's a UN treaty, and is not related to the UN Secretariat and the UN Environment Program.
Statement of the Secretariat of the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) on Mr. Randeep Hoodahttps://t.co/ex5ymsQaiC
— Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) (@BonnConvention) May 27, 2021
So what brought on the ire? In a video posted recently, Hooda can be seen sitting in a panel of a talk show. The actor says, "I think I have a very dirty joke," and goes on to imply how the physical attributes of the former chief minister make her less sexually appealing. The video was shot in 2012 at an India Today talk.
if this does not explain how casteist and sexist this society is, especially towards dalit women, i don’t know what will. the “joke”, the audacity, the crowd. randeep hooda, top bollywood actor talking about a dalit woman, who has been the voice of the oppressed. pic.twitter.com/lVxTJKnj53
— Agatha Srishtie 🌸 please DM with SOS tweets (@SrishtyRanjan) May 25, 2021
The clip soon went viral (nearly 632.4K views now), and people started criticizing the Kick actor. One comment said, "Both the joke and the laughter are sickening," while another pointed out it was "Not just sexist but highly casteist!!" Soon, the hashtag #ArrestRandeepHooda started trending on Twitter. Several politicians and influential Twitter accounts also took a part in this protest on the platform.
Outraging modesty of a women is a cognizable offence @MumbaiPolice. Don’t wait, #ArresteRandeepHooda. @OfficeofUT Pl. direct @CPMumbaiPolice to register an FIR arrest @RandeepHooda. This will set an example. @nitinmeshram_ https://t.co/z0XdnzNqy2
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) May 27, 2021
It should be mentioned that illustrations of gender symbols were seen in the background of the panel, so it's not known if the joke was sarcastic. Hooda is yet to comment. Meanwhile, some users disagreed with the need to arrest the actor. "Thousands of men do such things on regular basis. But no one notices their actions as they are not celebrities," someone tweeted.
To recall, a few days ago, an old tweet made by comedian Abish Mathew had gone viral, in which he too cracked an offensive joke on the Bahujan Samaj Party leader. Actresses like Munmun Dutta and more recently Yuvika Choudhary were also attacked online, for using a casteist slur in their YouTube videos. Unsurprisingly, both the actresses apologized, citing "ignorance."
