MUMBAI: Days after the controversial comments on women by cricket all-rounder Hardik Pandya on the chat show ‘Koffee with Karan’ caused a furore, Star India- owned streaming platform Hotstar has removed the episode.
“Certain remarks/comments made by the guests on the episode 12 of the show may have hurt the sentiment of our users/viewers. As a responsible platform, we have removed the episode from our platform with immediate effect,” Hotstar said Friday in a tweet in response to a query regarding the show being taken off the platform.
Pandya’s comments were slammed as misogynistic and sexist, drew a lot of flak from all corners, prompting the committee of administrators to issue a show-cause notice to the players on Wednesday.
The 25-year old cricketer, who appeared on the show alongside teammate KL Rahul, boasted about hooking up with multiple women and also how open he had been about it with his parents and family.
For most of the show, Pandya took it upon himself to say the most outrageous things, mostly on women.
When the host of the show asked him why didn’t he ask the women their names in a club, Pandya responded by saying, “I like to watch and observe how they (women) move.”
From that to the talk on his sex life, Pandya’s brashness did not taper down.
“When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, “Main karke aaya hai aaj (I did it today),” was his response to a question on how “cool” he is with his family members.
“At a party, my parents asked me acha tera wala (women) kaun sa hai (which are your women)? I said, ‘yeh, yeh, yeh (pointing out women) and they were like waah we are proud of you beta,” he went on to add to stress on the “cool quotient” of his family.
The line of questioning also seemed excessively focussed on women–the ones they have dated, those they wish to date, and who was the more attractive of all.
“If you all hit on the same women, then how do you decide?” asked the filmmaker.
Rahul’s response was, “up to the woman.”
Pandya was more outspoken. “Nahi nahi aisa kuch nahi hai, talent pe hota hai. Jisko mila woh leke jao (Nothing like that, it’s about talent, whoever gets them, takes them),” said the all-rounder with a little shrug of the shoulders.
However, Pandya later said he got carried away by the “nature of the show” and apologised for the remarks that were construed as misogynist and sexist.
“After reflecting on my comments at the show, I would like to apologise to everyone concerned who I may have hurt in any way,” he had tweeted.
“Honestly, I got a bit carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone’s sentiments. Respect,” he added.
Rahul’s comments on the show have not drawn any criticism but the fact that the duo appeared together perhaps also had him caught in the social media storm.
Diana Edulji, a members of the committee of administrators Friday recommended “suspension till further action” against Pandya and Rahul after the BCCI legal team had refused to declare their outrageous comments on women a violation of the code of conduct.
Skipper Virat Kohli has also distanced himself from the comments saying, “from the cricket team’s point of view, any inappropriate comments that are made in that scenario are something that we definitely don’t support…and that has been communicated (to the two players)”. PTI
