A lot of Bollywood celebs like Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Disha Patani, Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone have stepped in to show their support for #BlackLivesMatter – an anti-racist movement that condemns the death of George Floyd and other black citizens in the US.
But this show of solidarity is apparently not going down well with Twitter. Why, you ask?
It’s because the Twitterati feels that celebrities are being hypocritical by speaking up against racism on one hand but endorsing a colourist attitude on the other hand by advertising fairness creams.
“It doesn’t sit right with me that back home one promotes fairness creams, while speaking about how all colours are beautiful. It’s opportunistic,” wrote a Twitter user.
A Twitter thread was also made – juxtaposing the anti-racism posts of celebs like Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Disha Patani and Deepika Padukone with their respective fairness cream ads.
Apparently, it’s not just their endorsement of fairness creams while ironically condemning racism, that the Twitterati finds problematic. They are heavily criticizing Bollywood celebrities for ‘selective activism’ – not being vocal about the horrors happening in our own country, be it Palghar Sadhu Lynching or protests against CAA, but choosing to comment only on matters in the West.
What do you think of this controversy?