Daily Times

Indian cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul have been in the news ever since they made an appearance on Karan Johar’s talk show ‘Koffee With Karan’. Since the airing of the episode, Hardik has been receiving a lot of flak on social media due to the comments he made on the show. Recently, Karan opened up about the on-going row for the first time and said that the controversy has now gone into a zone which is beyond his control.

In an interaction with ET Now, the 46-year-old filmmaker said, “I have to say that I feel very responsible because it was my show, it was my platform. I invited them as guests and so the ramifications and repercussion of the show are my responsibility. I have had so many so many sleepless nights just wondering about how I can undo this damage, who is gonna listen to me. It’s now gone into a zone which is beyond my control.”

After getting backlash for comments which were tagged as ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ on social media, the Indian cricketers were suspended from the Indian ODI series against Australia

Karan added, “I have to say and I don’t defend myself when I say this. I have to say that the questions that I asked the two boys are the questions I ask everyone including women. Deepika (Padukone) and Alia (Bhatt) were on the show, I asked them those questions. I have no control about the answers that come my way.”

The filmmaker also revealed that his show is run entirely by women and none of them came up to him and said that it was inappropriate, admitting that he didn’t think about what was happening.

Further, talking about what has happened with the cricketers, Karan said, “I regret what has happened to them. And, then there was talk about me actually enjoying the TRP, I don’t care about the TRPs.”

Karan then added that he is not justifying the conversation that happened on the episode. “I am just saying is that I think that perhaps things were said that may have crossed boundaries and I apologise because it was my platform from where it happened. I feel the boys have faced the price for it already,” he said.

After getting backlash for his comments which are being tagged as racist and sexist on social media, Hardik took to Instagram and posted an apology. Following the controversy, Hardik along with KL Rahul has been suspended from the ODI series against Australia.

Published in Daily Times, January 24^th 2019.