Producer Ekta Kapoor has refused to apologise for a controversial scene in the ALT Balaji web series XXX: Uncensored, which allegedly insults the Indian Army, as a clear stand against cyberbullying. This comes after rape threats to Ekta and her mother Shobha Kapoor after former Bigg Boss contestant and YouTuber Hindustani Bhau aka Vikas Phatak filed a complaint against them.
In a chat with Shobhaa De, Ekta said, “This gentleman who thinks that he’s the ‘patriot of the year’ decided to come out there, abuse my mother and me. And now, he has openly put a rape threat on a social platform. This is now no longer about the army or sexual content because the idea of this is ‘rape a girl, rape her son, rape her 71-year-old mother’ for making sexual content. It means sex is bad but rape is okay.”
Ekta went on to say that it was ‘no big deal’ for her to issue an apology for the controversial scene, which has now been removed from the show, but “now I have decided to take the route of standing up to this cyberbullying”. She said, “If they can decide to take my nudes out, put out my nudes on the net, call me r****, then tomorrow, they can do this to any girl.”
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“You want to rub my nose on the ground? Well, you are not getting a chance,” she added.
Meanwhile, Ekta has said that she would willingly apologise if the demand for it came from ‘any bona fide army institution’ but would not give in to cyberbullying. “As an individual and as an organisation, we are deeply respectful towards Indian Army. Their contribution to our well-being and security is immense. Yes, we shall readily tender an unconditional apology if such a demand comes from any bona fide army institution. But we won’t bow down to uncivilised cyber bullying and rape threats by random elements,” she said.
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