Mumbai: Bollywood actor Richa Chadha called out Doordarshan’s senior journalist Ashok Shrivastava and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra for their sexist tweets. Both Ashok and Kapil commented on an advertisement promoting Chadha’s initiative helping COVID-19 patients find hospital beds across India.
Richa Chaddha had shared an advertisement of her initiative on Instagram promoting the initiative.
Ashok Shrivastava tweet
In a ‘now deleted’ tweet, senior consulting editor, Shrivastava said shared Richa’s ad and, “This is a good initiative @findabed_in, but maybe you should have chosen better brand ambassadors. Or, if nothing else, better photos”.
Richa Chadha’s response
To which, Richa Chadha took to her Twitter and replied: “Shocked to find that such a misogynistic and evil person has been hired by the Doordarshan, India’s national public service broadcaster. At a time when everyone is doing literally all they can to help, he simply cannot help but out himself as a pervert”.
What did Kapil Mishra write?
Kapil Mishra defended Shrivastava’s misogynistic tweet and accusing the women of what he termed “cheap sexuality”. In a now unavailable tweet, he wrote, “Ashok ji has asked a question in the spirit of being a true journalist. This advertisement on beds for Covid-19 patients isn’t compassionate to the situation. It is a blatant attempt to sell cheap sexuality.”
To which, Chadha replied pointing out that BJP leader and former Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu had also endorsed this initiative.
After facing backlash on Twitter, Shrivastav apologised for his tweet and said that he was “saddened” by the entire situation and got “unnecessarily” entangled in it. “I unnecessarily got entangled in things I should have stayed away from. I have hurt my fans and I apologise for it,” he tweeted.
Besides Richa Chadha, the campaign also features actors Swara Bhaskar, Sunny Leone, Vishal Singh, Sunny and Ranvijay Singh, and chef Ranveer Brar, have also lent their faces to the campaign.