Kunal Kamra: Airline ban on India comedian sparks fiery debate
29 January 2020
Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Email Share
Image caption
Kamra has said he is 'not sorry' for the altercation
Is it justifiable to enforce a flight ban on a comedian who heckles a popular news presenter on a flight? Especially when reporters from the presenter's channel have done the same to others?
That is the burning question currently being debated on social media, after four Indian airlines banned Kunal Kamra for his "altercation" with Arnab Goswami.
Mr Goswami, who runs the Republic news network, is a popular name in India, but is seen as a polarising figure. He frequently berates his panellists, attacks opposition members and government critics, and is also known to pass judgement on news issues - he has called people names like "traitor" and even advocated going to war with Pakistan.
The encounter occurred on board a recent IndiGo airlines flight from Mumbai to Lucknow.
Kamra says he met Mr Goswami aboard the plane and "politely asked him to have a conversation", but that the journalist had "pretended to be on a phone call".
After repeatedly trying to ask him questions on journalism, Kamra took the video of him berating Mr Goswami using some of his own catchphrases like "the nation wants to know!" He also repeatedly asks "if Arnab is a coward or a nationalist".
ADVERTISEMENT
Ads by Teads
The video quickly went viral - with some quipping that it was the only time they had ever seen Mr Goswami silent. Wearing sunglasses and earphones, he steadfastly ignores Kamra for the entire duration of the video.
Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Arnab Goswami is a household name in India
Hours later, IndiGo Airlines tweeted that it was suspending him, also tagging the aviation minister.
Skip Twitter post by @IndiGo6E
IndiGo
✔
@IndiGo6E
@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour. 1/2
27.1K
8:49 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
15.9K people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @IndiGo6E
The minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, responded by asking all other airlines to follow suit. The national carrier, Air India, and two other private carriers, SpiceJet and GoAir followed suit.
Kamra has responded saying "it's not shocking at all to me that for exercising my right to speech, three airlines have given me a temporary ban." He pointed out that he was not disruptive on the flight and always followed the orders of the cabin crew, adding that the only "damage" he had caused was to Mr Goswami's "inflated ego".
He wondered why he had been banned from Indigo for six months when no formal complaint had been made against him and also questioned the decision by the other two airlines.
"This was the first time something like this has happened, so why have they jumped the gun and banned me?"
Many people on social media are also calling the decision an example of "blatant double standards", especially since Mr Goswami's reporters have, in the past, gone up to newsmakers and stridently demanded answers to questions.
IndiGo apologises for passenger altercation
Among them, was Shashi Tharoor, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, who had been targeted in the past. "His goons, armed with cameras and mics as their weapons, have done exactly the same thing to me, in almost exactly the same words, on two separate flights until asked to desist by air crew," he tweeted.
Skip Twitter post by @ShashiTharoor
Shashi Tharoor
✔
@ShashiTharoor
The truth is that it was time someone gave him a taste of his own medicine. These are the words he regularly uses to berate his innocent victims, except he does so in a hectoring, bullying manner & at higher volume & pitch than @kunalkamra88 does in this video. https://twitter.com/stylistanu/status/1222118715602300929 …
Anu M
@stylistanu
Replying to @kunalkamra88
Will this trend start now?
To question Modia, whenever they spotted outside their studios...
To ask them valid questions.
Questions related with unemployment, economy and women's saftey.
12.9K
6:30 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
6,150 people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @ShashiTharoor
Skip Twitter post by @MrTippler
Don Tippler
@MrTippler
So, basically Kunal Kamra got an airline ban for behaving like Arnab Goswami with Arnab Goswami onboard a flight.
5,192
9:18 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,163 people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @MrTippler
Others called the move a "blatantly political decision" - they pointed out that a BJP MP who recently created a row aboard a flight was not punished.
The hashtag #BoycottIndigo has been trending on Twitter, although some of the tweets have been in support of the ban, calling Kamra a "nuisance" and a "threat to passenger safety".
Mr Kamra, for his part does not seem entirely fazed by his ban, or the criticism that has come his way.
Skip Twitter post by @kunalkamra88
Kunal Kamra
✔
@kunalkamra88
Thank you Indigo a six month suspension is honestly very kind of you...
Modiji might be suspending Air India forever. https://twitter.com/indigo6e/status/1222177357261180933 …
IndiGo
✔
@IndiGo6E
@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour. 1/2
55.1K
9:06 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
17.1K people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @kunalkamra88
In a subsequent statement, he said he was "not sorry" because he did not think he had done anything "wrong or criminal". He also apologised to "every passenger except one".
29 January 2020
Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Email Share
Image caption
Kamra has said he is 'not sorry' for the altercation
Is it justifiable to enforce a flight ban on a comedian who heckles a popular news presenter on a flight? Especially when reporters from the presenter's channel have done the same to others?
That is the burning question currently being debated on social media, after four Indian airlines banned Kunal Kamra for his "altercation" with Arnab Goswami.
Mr Goswami, who runs the Republic news network, is a popular name in India, but is seen as a polarising figure. He frequently berates his panellists, attacks opposition members and government critics, and is also known to pass judgement on news issues - he has called people names like "traitor" and even advocated going to war with Pakistan.
The encounter occurred on board a recent IndiGo airlines flight from Mumbai to Lucknow.
Kamra says he met Mr Goswami aboard the plane and "politely asked him to have a conversation", but that the journalist had "pretended to be on a phone call".
After repeatedly trying to ask him questions on journalism, Kamra took the video of him berating Mr Goswami using some of his own catchphrases like "the nation wants to know!" He also repeatedly asks "if Arnab is a coward or a nationalist".
ADVERTISEMENT
Ads by Teads
The video quickly went viral - with some quipping that it was the only time they had ever seen Mr Goswami silent. Wearing sunglasses and earphones, he steadfastly ignores Kamra for the entire duration of the video.
Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Arnab Goswami is a household name in India
Hours later, IndiGo Airlines tweeted that it was suspending him, also tagging the aviation minister.
Skip Twitter post by @IndiGo6E
IndiGo
✔
@IndiGo6E
@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour. 1/2
27.1K
8:49 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
15.9K people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @IndiGo6E
The minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, responded by asking all other airlines to follow suit. The national carrier, Air India, and two other private carriers, SpiceJet and GoAir followed suit.
Kamra has responded saying "it's not shocking at all to me that for exercising my right to speech, three airlines have given me a temporary ban." He pointed out that he was not disruptive on the flight and always followed the orders of the cabin crew, adding that the only "damage" he had caused was to Mr Goswami's "inflated ego".
He wondered why he had been banned from Indigo for six months when no formal complaint had been made against him and also questioned the decision by the other two airlines.
"This was the first time something like this has happened, so why have they jumped the gun and banned me?"
Many people on social media are also calling the decision an example of "blatant double standards", especially since Mr Goswami's reporters have, in the past, gone up to newsmakers and stridently demanded answers to questions.
IndiGo apologises for passenger altercation
Among them, was Shashi Tharoor, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, who had been targeted in the past. "His goons, armed with cameras and mics as their weapons, have done exactly the same thing to me, in almost exactly the same words, on two separate flights until asked to desist by air crew," he tweeted.
Skip Twitter post by @ShashiTharoor
Shashi Tharoor
✔
@ShashiTharoor
The truth is that it was time someone gave him a taste of his own medicine. These are the words he regularly uses to berate his innocent victims, except he does so in a hectoring, bullying manner & at higher volume & pitch than @kunalkamra88 does in this video. https://twitter.com/stylistanu/status/1222118715602300929 …
Anu M
@stylistanu
Replying to @kunalkamra88
Will this trend start now?
To question Modia, whenever they spotted outside their studios...
To ask them valid questions.
Questions related with unemployment, economy and women's saftey.
12.9K
6:30 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
6,150 people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @ShashiTharoor
Skip Twitter post by @MrTippler
Don Tippler
@MrTippler
So, basically Kunal Kamra got an airline ban for behaving like Arnab Goswami with Arnab Goswami onboard a flight.
5,192
9:18 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,163 people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @MrTippler
Others called the move a "blatantly political decision" - they pointed out that a BJP MP who recently created a row aboard a flight was not punished.
The hashtag #BoycottIndigo has been trending on Twitter, although some of the tweets have been in support of the ban, calling Kamra a "nuisance" and a "threat to passenger safety".
Mr Kamra, for his part does not seem entirely fazed by his ban, or the criticism that has come his way.
Skip Twitter post by @kunalkamra88
Kunal Kamra
✔
@kunalkamra88
Thank you Indigo a six month suspension is honestly very kind of you...
Modiji might be suspending Air India forever. https://twitter.com/indigo6e/status/1222177357261180933 …
IndiGo
✔
@IndiGo6E
@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour. 1/2
55.1K
9:06 PM - Jan 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
17.1K people are talking about this
Report
End of Twitter post by @kunalkamra88
In a subsequent statement, he said he was "not sorry" because he did not think he had done anything "wrong or criminal". He also apologised to "every passenger except one".
No comments:
Post a Comment