Actor Sambhavna Seth and husband Avinash Dwivedi issued an apology to the Adivasi community after they faced social media backlash for a video wherein they were mocking their house help.
Sambhavna Seth posted a video on YouTube on 16 June where they can be seen mocking something their house held said in her native language. The woman kept correcting them and frequently said, "Ye hum log ka bhaasha hai. (It's our language)." The video has since been deleted.
In the apology video, Avinash said in Hindi, "We've found out that the language used in the video is the language of an Adivasi community from Jharkhand. We realised that a lot of people were hurt by the video."
Sambhavna interjected to add that they didn't 'intend' to mock anyone or any community.
He added, "Our videos are not scripted so sometimes we say the wrong thing. We both want to apologise to our followers who may or may not be from the Adivasi community; and the entire community."
The caption said, "Apologising to the whole Adivasi community with @imavinashdwivedi. We are also hurt because you are hurt."
Several users on social media accused the couple of being elitist and demeaning an Adivasi language for humour. The Adivasi Post posted the video on Instagram and wrote, "This YouTube video is a glimpse of why our people have identity crisis and face social isolation in a mainstream society."
They further highlighted, "They continue to make fun of their domestic worker’s language, cultural belongingness and hometown without even trying to understand how it is pronounced or what she meant, while she humbly keeps repeating that it is just her language."
Earlier this year, actors Munmun Dutta and Yuvika Choudhary, and Randeep Hooda were called out for their use of casteist language. While Randeep hasn’t commented on the matter, both Munmun and Yuvika had issued apologies claiming that they didn't 'intend' to hurt anyone.
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