Actors Swara Bhasker and Mallika Dua slammed comedian Trevor Noah for joking about the tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama attack and the retaliation by the Indian Air Force. Noan on The Daily Show had said that an India-Pakistan war would be, “the most entertaining war of all time”. He said, “Obviously, I hope India and Pakistan don't go to war. But if they did go to war, it would probably be the most entertaining war of all-time."
On the show, Noah also took a dig at Bollywood dance numbers by adding that Indian soldiers would be singing and dancing on the battlefield in between shooting the enemy troops. While he mimed Indian soldiers shooting, singing and dancing, Noad said “"It would also be the longest war of all time. Another dance number...?”
Though Noah added a cautionary, “I'm sorry, I love Bollywood, I do”, the damage was done. Among those who called out the comedian for his insensitive and racist joke was Swara Bhasker who tweeted that she was disappointed at his “ignorant and racist” take on the Indo-Pak situation.
“@Trevornoah 1. War isn’t funny or entertaining. 2. Hindi is not gibberish. Ur stereotype of indo- pak is ignorant & racist. 3. Ur set smacks of essentialism & a patronising generalisation & is v #FirstWorld 4. Human lives were lost & at stake. SO disappointing! @ComedyCentral,” Swara tweeted.
Actor and comedian Mallika Dua also criticised Noah’s video by calling it “unintelligent and tone deaf”.
Here’s what Dua tweeted, “Shockingly unintelligent & tone deaf What makes it sadder is that @Trevornoah cracked such a below average, shit joke. Something Russel Peters probably threw in the bin before his first open mic in life. If you’re going to be a racist comic than at least get the comic bit right.”
Noah’s video was called out by several people on social media for being insensitive towards the ramifications of a war.
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