While reality shows are known for their rather unconventional choice of words and acts, an introductory speech for a participant on one such dance show did not go well with several people, including the Chief Minister of an Indian state.
The host of a popular dance reality show, Dance Deewane: Season 3, had a different approach to announce the next performance of a young girl from the Northeast. Raghav Juyal called her on stage with remarks of “chowmein”, “momo” and “gibberish Chinese”, triggering an outrage amongst social media users.
Slamming the indecent choice of words was Assam Chief Minister as he joined the others who called Raghav’s act cringe-worthy and racist.
The backlash took life after a video clip from an undated episode surfaced on social media of Dance Deewane. The host could be seen inviting the young contestant with the terms. Not just the content but the presenter of the comments too was criticized heavily, as the video quickly got viral, reaching the CM eventually.
Reacting to the clip posted on Twitter by social media users, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam condemned the performance, calling it “shameful”. “It has come to my notice that a popular reality show host has used racist rhetoric against a young participant from Guwahati. This is shameful and totally unacceptable. Racism has no place in our country and we should all condemn it unequivocally,” he tweeted saying.
Following hundreds of comments and negative reactions on the video, the man in question, Raghav Juyal, took to Instagram to explain his words. He iterated that the “chowmein”, “momo” and the “gibberish Chinese” mentions were a reference to the participant’s self-proclaimed fact of having Chinese-speaking skills.
He clarified the same through a nearly 4 min long video where he said, “It’s unfair and not good for my mental health to see this short clip without the right context. When this contestant came to the show, she announced that she had a talent of speaking Chinese. My performance was based on that.”
Though this statement seemed to convince some people, others criticized him for not owning up to the mistake. Users accused him of defending himself rather than apologizing.
“The show host’s explanation over the clip is weirdest. He says the child knew Chinese and the introduction was based on that. Out there on the streets, such viral jokes have real consequences for the common person from the northeast… Even if the child spoke gibberish Chinese, and her family gave consent to use that context, the host appeared to be ignorant of the problems that already exist with such connotations. Hence the need to educate. Just because one can do, doesn’t mean one should. Discretion is key,” wrote one user, while another said, “Momo chowmein? Really? Normalizing racial stereotypes is not okay by saying the child said it. You’re an adult with a platform and owning up to it by saying I’m sorry if you felt bad, is very sad. What a joke of an apology.”
