Kusha Kapila has finally addressed Samay Raina’s potshots at her and her divorce from Zorawar Singh Ahluwalia on the Pretty Good Roast Show. Samay Raina had made several comments about the actress’ marriage, divorce and sex life, some of which had to be censored. Although Kusha took the roast like a sport, a section of her fans made it known to her that they did not appreciate Samay’s jokes.
Recently, Kusha took to her YouTube community notes and shared her thoughts on the incident. She wrote, “Friends, a recent roast I was a part of has led a lot of my female and queer followers to question why did I sit through something that could have been completely avoided and WITH GOOD REASON. Here’s my two cents: It was done in good faith and for a friend. Nobody has been paid (neither comics nor guests) for it so the argument that people are ‘being paid big fat cheques to hear their insults’ is baseless.”
“Jokes weren’t shared beforehand (as it’s done in all roast formats in the West) so I had no idea what was in store for me. Maybe I should have asked for a script and known better but since friends were involved I didn’t. Rookie mistake. While I endured some of the really raspy jokes in front of a live audience and technicians, I absolutely was not okay for it to play for millions of people since some jokes straight-up dehumanised me. It was shockingly unkind,” she added.
She continued, “Mine was the first episode to be shot (was shot in January) so everyone had a fair bit of learnings post shoot which is why in other episodes, boundaries haven’t been crossed, especially with women. Last six months since the episode was shot, I have been a part of various calls and negotiations for every word, every joke, every slur (literal begging has happened). If I hadn’t let the episode go live, I would have been called a coward and a crybaby and a different kind of trolling would have ensued.”
Kusha also wrote, “This has been a huge learning for me too since over the course of last six months during negotiations, I have been told that I deserve these jokes and that as a divorced woman, I should have seen this coming. Maybe I should have and maybe silence on this topic is seen as cowardice but it’s mostly choosing peace over endless discourse that will likely villainise women. Simultaneously, when you don’t speak, people also choose to believe whatever they want to. So this is me clearing the air as much as I can and advising women artists to have strict riders in place.”
Kusha Kapila said that she will not sit for more roasts unless she knows what’s coming for her. She said that while she also disapproves of Samay’s jokes like the many female audience members present at the venue, she takes pride in the fact that she sat through it and found the “gumption” to perform her jokes as well.
