Kunal Kamra does it again, backs 'toxic' Tanmay Bhatt this time, but why it is not surprising

With netizens coming down heavily on him for supporting Bhatt, he eat his own words.

As the news of comedian Tanmay Bhatt's new ad campaign for Kotak Mahindra Bank was out, netizens started venting out their anguish against the bank for hiring a Hinduphobic, woman and child abuser.

However, propagandist 'comedian' Kunal Kamra not only extended his support to Bhatt, but also questioned why other comedians have not done so. He tweeted: "I can't believe no comedians are siding with victim Tanmay Bhatt he has faced so many atrocities in life & still counting. Sad day for the comedy world over. Shame on the Indian comedy scene."

However, this too did not go well with the netizens. They came back to lash out at Kamra for supporting Bhatt. "Everyone has to pay for his mistakes in this world, [sic]" a user pointed out. "Indian comedy scene is a big comedy itself!! [sic]," another netizen said.

"The day you entered Indian Comedy it became a sad day image.png . Never too late!, [sic]" the third user slammed Kamra as well as Bhatt. "I would've supported tanmay if he had the guts to pop jokes on every religion and not just hindus specifically. It isn't as if his livelihood depends on this kotak deal. Let him cope and ponder his life choices," a netizen wrote.

As Kamra realised that his views were not being endorsed by many, he then tried to calm down the situation by tweeting that it was "sarcasm". His statement has not come as a surprise as the fact-checkers often shield themselves by using 'sarcasm' to their defence when caught on the wrong foot.

Bhatt, like Kamra, has often been criticised for his derogatory tweets and comments. Be it his tasteless and insensitive remarks on Lata Mangeshkar or his casual jokes about child sexual exploitation, he has a long history of making crass comments to be in the news.

Meanwhile, Kamra has reportedly deleted a post in which he hailed a brand for associating with Bhatt.

Kotak withdraws ad

Days after launching their new campaign featuring Bhat, the bank withdrew the advertisement following the latter's decade-old tweet on a Hindu god resurfaced on social media. After the backlash, the bank apologised for associating with the co-founder of All India Bakchod (AIB) and announced that they have pulled down their 811 campaign.

"We, at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, do not support or endorse the views of actors made in their personal capacity that harm or offend any individual or group. We have withdrawn the campaign," the bank wrote on Twitter.

The three-ad campaign on Kotak's digital bank with the tagline #SamayKoSahiKaamPeLagao featured content creators Bhat and Samay Raina, who was seen in the ad holding a placard saying "No offensive Jokes Tanmay Bhai" with a cancel sign on "No".

Bhatt came to limelight after founding AIB along with Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi, and Ashish Shakya. Apart from writing scripts for comedies and ads, he worked as writer and actor in several TV shows, web series and movies. He was also the judge on Season 1 of Comicstaan, a stand-up comedy competition broadcast on Amazon Prime. He was also part of movies such as 'Ragini MMS' and 'Mr X'.