Amid the backlash over YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia's remarks on India's Got Latent, an old video of comedian Kapil Sharma has gone viral and it has sparked debate on selective outrage over vulgarity and indecency in comedy. The clip, originally from a February 19, 2023, episode of Kapil's The Kapil Sharma Show, was posted by a social media user recently after Ranveer and comedian Samay Raina faced the ire of netizens.
The resurfaced video features Kapil cracking a joke about the younger generation's obsession with cricket. In his opening monologue, Kapil humourously pointed out how students complain about waking up early to study but have no problem doing so for cricket matches.
"Koi koi toh itne shaukeen hote hain, subah 2 baje hi uth jaate hain. Cricket dekhne ke liye. Cricket ka match shuru hona hota hai 4 baje. Phir ye maa baap ki kabaddi dekh ke so jaate hain," Kapil quipped.
The joke, supposedly on parents' sex, was met with mixed reactions - some members of the audience appeared shocked, while guest Archana Puran Singh was seen laughing.
In the original video, available on SET India's official YouTube channel, Kapil clarified his remark, saying, "Matlab maa baap lad rahe hote hain na (I mean, parents are usually arguing)."
While Ranveer Allahbadia faced heavy backlash for his comments on India’s Got Latent, many netizens argue that similar humour has long been a part of mainstream Indian entertainment, including Kapil's show, Bollywood films, and stand-up acts.
"When are we cancelling Kapil Sharma?" asked an X user. Another wrote, "Kapil Sharma did a #RanveerAllahbadia before #indiagotlatent."
A section of users also defended Kapil. A netizen wrote, "This is smart writing, ranveer openly copied the joke from the west. And there have many quite a lot offensive things being said on latent, samay failed at self censorship in editing, what to post and what not to."
Here's how others reacted:
Ranveer Allahbadia's India's Got Latent controversy
The controversy began after Ranveer, popularly known as Beer Biceps, asked a contestant of India's Got Latent, "Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join in once to make it stop forever?"
The remarks were deemed vulgar and inappropriate. Following criticism and social media outrage, Samay Raina deleted the related videos from his YouTube channel.
