Comedian Samay Raina issued a public apology on Instagram for making insensitive remarks about people with disabilities on his YouTube show India’s Got Latent. The apology, made on his 28th birthday, followed a Supreme Court order directing him and four other comedians to express regret publicly
Samay Raina
Stand-up comedian Samay Raina has apologised for the insensitive remarks against people with disability that was made on his popular YouTube show 'India's Got Latent'. He made the apology through Instagram on the occasion of his 28th birthday.
Samay Raina apologises as instructed by court
Taking to his Instagram Stories, comedian Samay Raina apologised for the pain caused by his show to people with disabilities. He shared the apology on behalf of the other comedians as well, which includes Vipul Goyal, Sonali Thakkar, Nishant Tanwar and Balraj Ghai. A case was earlier registered against these comedians for hurting sentiments.
He wrote, "Today is my birthday. And instead of celebrating just myself, I want to use this day-the most special day of the year for me-to apologise to the people with disabilities. We, Samay Raina, Vipul Goyal, Sonali Thakkar, Nishant Tanwar, Balraj Ghai deeply regret the pain caused due to our show."
The comedian also claimed to "spread awareness" about the challenges faced by the disabled community.
"Going forward, we will be more mindful and do our best to spread awareness about the challenges faced by the community. Your strength inspires us to grow. With respect and gratitude. Samay, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Ghai, Sonali Thakker, Nishant Tanwar," concluded Raina.
When Supreme Court ordered Samay Raina to issue apology
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court came down heavily on Samay Raina for allegedly making insensitive remarks about people with disability. The court directed Raina and four other comedians--Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Nishant Jagdish Tanwar, and Sonali Thakkar (aka Sonali Aditya Desai)--to issue an unconditional apology on their YouTube channels and other platforms.
The order came after a plea by Cure SMA Foundation of India, which accused the comedians of mocking people suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a rare genetic disorder, and other disabilities during a show.
The petitioner is concerned by certain live and pre-recorded event videos of these individuals, due to their offensive, denigrating and dehumanising representation of persons with disabilities," the petition said, reported news agency ANI.
"These videos shed light on the widespread irresponsible, insensitive and violate dissemination of such online content that contravenes the rights of the persons with disability under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, propels offensive stereotypes and misguided portrayals against them, and detrimentally impacts their societal participation, and fosters insensitivity and inhumanity against them, and as such falls within the reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2)," said the petition, as per the news agency ANI.
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