Vivek Anand Oberoi has landed himself in a soup again, after posting a misogynistic election meme.
He’d put the following caption with the meme.
Haha! Creative! No politics here just life!
The meme included him and his fellow actors, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan (and their 7-year-old daughter Aaradhya), and Salman Khan, and indirectly referred to Aishwarya Rai’s past and current personal relationships.
The meme, that was definitely not in good taste, was immediately called out by various celebrities, like actor Sonam Kapoor, badminton star Jwala Gutta, comedian Papa CJ, and others.
Disgusting and classless. https://t.co/GUB7K6dAY8
— Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) May 20, 2019
Extremely absurd of you to tweet this!! Disappointing!
— Gutta Jwala (@Guttajwala) May 20, 2019
Best delete this @vivekoberoi. It may not have occurred to you at the time of posting but you posting this is in poor taste.
— Papa CJ (@PapaCJ) May 20, 2019
Dear @vivekoberoi, never expected such tweet from u. The trolls may go to any extent and make memes but u as a responsible celebrity should be careful of hurting anyone’s dignity. Would request u to apologize and delete the tweet. https://t.co/lfJgWiWphF
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) May 20, 2019
Initially, Vivek Oberoi continued to defend his post, stating that it was a meme and people should not get offended by it.
Vivek Oberoi: I don’t know why people are making a huge issue out of it. Someone had sent me a meme which made fun of me. I laughed on it&I appreciated the person for his creativity. If someone mocks at you, you should not take it seriously. pic.twitter.com/Ak23Slw8vr
— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2019
He went so far as to pass a personal comment on Sonam Kapoor as well.
Vivek Oberoi speaks on Sonam Kapoor’s reaction to his tweet (on exit polls), “…Aap apni filmon mein thoda kam overact karein aur social media pe thoda kam overreact karein. I’ve been working in women empowerment for 10 yrs now. I don’t think this is hurting anyone’s sentiments” pic.twitter.com/pOWAwO29N6
— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2019
The National Commission for Women has sent him a notice for his offensive comments.
Rekha Sharma, NCW chairperson: We would like him (Vivek Oberoi) to apologise on social media & personally also to the person concerned. If he doesn’t do, we will see what legal action can we take against him. We will be talking to Twitter to remove that tweet immediately. pic.twitter.com/h6st5jgbqQ
— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2019
He has now deleted the tweet and apologized, stating that he had no intention of hurting anyone’s sentiments.
Even if one woman is offended by my reply to the meme, it calls for remedial action. Apologies🙏🏻 tweet deleted.
— Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) May 21, 2019
Sometimes what appears to be funny and harmless at first glance to one, may not be so to others. I have spent the last 10 years empowering more than 2000 underprivileged girls, I cant even think of being disrespectful to any woman ever.
— Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) May 21, 2019
Vivek is set to appear in a Biopic based on PM Modi’s life, set for release on May 24.
