Published 16:53 IST, June 6th 2020
Stars who endorse fairness creams, shamelessly saying 'Black Lives Matter': Kangana Ranaut
Kangana Ranaut said that stars who endorse fairness creams were 'shamelessly' saying 'Black Lives Matter' in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd
Bollywood celebrities have been raising their voice against racism and supporting the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. However, they have also been receiving criticism from a section for being silent on issues concerning India, and not looking into one’s own backyard before condemning a global event. Not just netizens, even actors like Abhay Deol and Kangana Ranaut have been vocal in their views against these stars.
Kangana slams stars
Kangana had earlier questioned their silence on the lynching of monks in Palghar and had stated that their selective outrage was ‘perhaps because of their pre-independence colonial slavery genes'. In a recent interview with BBC, the actor reiterated her point and said that the stars supporting ‘Black Lives Matter’ were being ‘called out’ for their silence on the killing of the sadhus.
She also said it was easier for the stars to ‘resonate with minorities than majority’ because ‘Hinduism is not based on conversion or conquering.’ Kangana said that the stars perhaps feared resonating with majoritarian sentiments, and preferred to 'politicise compassion, humanity, activism', and were a ‘part of the problem’.
The National Award-winning actor also said that they were ‘politicising’ the event to ‘further their professional interest’, and called it ‘disheartening.’
Kangana termed stars posting ‘Black Lives Matter’ messages as a ‘fancy’ way to join the campaign relevant to the West, while wondering how they were contributing to the socio-political reform of America.
She also suggested that it seemed they were trying to look ‘busy without work’. She said that there was a lot that had to be done in India, and that one should take the lead from the movement in the USA. The Queen star added that one should ‘deal with the evil within the house’, before going out and ‘reforming the world.’
Kangana asked ‘How dare they?” to the stars for endorsing fairness products and ‘saying Black Lives Matter shamelessly.” The actor called herself the ‘exception’ for not endorsing fairness products and questioned their ‘million dollar deals’. She accused the stars of ‘commercializing dissent’, calling racism as ‘deep-rooted’ while terming the controversy as the ‘lowest humanity can hit.’
Moreover, when asked about the social initiatives that stars were involving themselves during COVID-19 pandemic, Kangana replied that most of them were ‘advertising themselves’ more than they should have.
Like Kangana, Abhay Deol had also similarly urged all celebrities to look within before saying ‘Black Lives Matter.’ The actor had even shared how fairness product companies had changed some of the terminologies to avoid criticism.
Updated 16:54 IST, June 6th 2020