What was Aziz Ansari scandal? Why he didn't play lead role in 'Master of None' season 3?

Back in 2017, the second season of Netflix's highly acclaimed comedy-drama series Master of None ended with the much-talked-about Aziz Ansari scandal, which made a lot of people believe that its third season will never see the light of the day. However, Master of None season 3 premiered on the streaming giant on May 21, 2021, but at the cost of Aziz's character Dev Shah's exit. Read on to know what was the Aziz Ansari scandal all about to find out why the actor-filmmaker supposedly did not continue playing the lead role in its newly-released third season.

Why didn't Aziz Ansari in Master of None season 3 play the lead role of Dev Shah?

The creator and former lead actor of Master of None faced a lot of criticism by the end of his series' second season because of sexual assault accusations faced by his colleague, Bobby Cannavale. It was reported that Bobby had been harassing female crew members for multiple years and as the actor-duo continued promoting their series together, Aziz also got "cancelled" by netizens as a ramification of allegations against Bobby. In 2018, the internet was taken by shock when a woman, under the pseudonym "Grace", wrote an explosive article on Babe.net, titled "I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned out to be the worst night of my life."

In her article, the Brooklyn-based photographer revealed how Master of None's Aziz Ansari made sexual advances at her even after she expressed being uninterested in him. She explained feeling immense pressure to get intimate with him as all her signals were either ignored or went unnoticed. Grace had also shared screenshots of her texts to the actor-filmmaker about his behaviour that had made her feel uncomfortable. Soon after the article made headlines, Aziz responded to it by stating that he had "misread" the situation. The Parks and Recreation actor also mentioned he thought what happened between them was consensual. Furthermore, although the Golden Globe Award-winning star apologised for the same, he maintained that he did it unknowingly. 

Meanwhile, the announcement of Master of None Season 3 came across as a surprise for many as a lot of individuals didn't expect the show to return ever. However, instead of being in continuation with the first two seasons, the newly-released season of the dramedy focuses on Dev Shah's friend Denise and her wife Alicia's life story, played by Lena Waithe and Naomi Ackie respectively. While Aziz has not played the lead role in Master of None's third season, the 38-year-old has directed and co-written all the episodes of this Netflix Original. In addition to that, he also has a cameo appearance in two episodes of season 3. 

IMAGE: AZIZ ANSARI'S INSTAGRAM