மாணவர் முரசு
இ-பேப்பர்
South Indian actor Siddharth (far right) apologised to Saina Nehwal (left) on Tuesday after receiving strong criticism for his "rude joke" on the Indian badminton player on Twitter.
On Jan 6, he retweeted a post by Saina in which she expressed concern over the security breach that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced during his Punjab visit on Jan 5.
"No nation can claim itself to be safe if the security of its own PM gets compromised. I condemn, in the strongest words possible, the cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists," said Saina.
Siddharth commented on the post: "Subtle cock champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India. Folded hands. Shame on you..." He later tweeted: "COCK & BULL. That's the reference. Reading otherwise is unfair and leading! Nothing disrespectful was intended."
In his letter of apology posted on Twitter, Siddarth said: "I may disagree with you on many things but even my disappointment or anger when I read your tweet, cannot justify my tone and words. I know I have more grace in me than that. As for the joke... if a joke needs to be explained, then it wasn't a very good joke to begin with. Sorry about a joke that didn't land."
Siddharth clarified that he had no "malicious" intent and that he is a "feminist ally" and hoped that she will accept his letter.
Saina responded by saying that the matter is "about women" and wondered why the actor changed his stance after making the comment.
"I haven't spoken to him but I am happy that he apologised," she said.
"See, it is about women, he shouldn't target a woman like that, but it's okay. I am not bothered about it, I am happy in my space and god bless him."
Saina's father Harvir Singh Nehwal had said earlier on Tuesday that the shuttler was unhappy with Siddharth's remarks.
"A person from the cinema industry has made some bad remarks against Saina on Twitter. I condemn his statement. He should come out in the open and apologise. Our family is really disturbed. Saina is also unhappy," Mr Harvir told ANI.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) asked Twitter to block Siddharth's account over his "sexist" tweet, while various activists called his comments "sexist and misogynistic".
Indo-Asian News Service