Comedian Samay Raina finally recorded his statement with the Maharashtra Cyber Cell on Monday after over a month of FIR being filed against him in the India’s Got Latent row. As the comedian was grilled for nearly six hours, he admitted that his statements on the show were “wrong”, and also stated how the entire controversy affected his mental health.
Samay was interrogated by Maharashtra Cyber Cell officials at their Navi Mumbai office on Monday, and during the interrogation, the comedian stated that whatever he said on India’s Got Latent happened “in the flow of the show”.
Expressing his regret, Samay reportedly said that he did not intend to hurt the sentiments of people with his comments and jokes, and promised to be extra cautious in future to avoid similar incidents. “I regret what I said, and I am aware that what I said was wrong,” he said.
As per IANS, Samay also told the officials that the controversy affected his mental state, which in turn, had a negative impact on his Canada tour and he could not perform to his fullest there.
The India’s Got Latent controversy erupted after YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia made an objectionable comment during his appearance on the show. He asked a contestant, “Would you rather watch your parents have sex for the rest of your life or join in once and stop it forever?” Samay, along with the other panellists — Apoorva Mukhija and Ashish Chanchlani — was seen laughing at the supposed joke.
By the time the controversy gained momentum, Samay had already flown out of India for his Canada tour, and he had then sought time until March 17 to record his statement with the Maharashtra Cyber Cell.
Meanwhile, he deleted all episodes of India’s Got Latent from his YouTube channel and also cancelled the broadcast of the remaining episodes. Not just that, but he recently also announced the cancellation of all the shows of his upcoming India tour.
