#YoTanmaySoWoke: Tanmay to 'step away' from AIB amid #MeToo allegations
What's the story
Amid allegations of sexual misconduct against All India Bakchod founders, Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba, the company announced that Bhat would be "stepping away" from business with immediate effect. Further, Khamba would take a leave of absence. Notably, in an earlier statement, AIB had accepted that Bhat knew about the accusations against fellow comedian Utsav Chakraborty. Here's more.
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AIB says can't overlook Tanmay's role
"We have been closely monitoring the sequence of events on social media around the allegations against AIB and also against our co-founder and CEO, Tanmay Bhat. We cannot overlook Tanmay's role," AIB said in a statement.
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Here's the official statement from AIB's HR Head
Statement pic.twitter.com/KR5tM2sYuX
— All India Bakchod (@AllIndiaBakchod) October 8, 2018
They knew
Backstory: Woman who called Utsav out, said she told AIB
Mahima Kukreja, who enabled the #MeToo movement, shared screenshots of victims of Utsav's predatory nature. Some victims were minors, and some incidents happened way back in 2013. Kukreja in one of her tweets mentioned she told AIB about Utsav, but they continued associating with him, making videos and writing scripts. Later, after under immense social media pressure, Bhat released a rather lousy apology.
PS: We care
They said they were different, they are not
Now one may argue the comedians really don't owe us anything, they can be like other industries, turning a blind eye to victims' testimonies. But the other industries never claimed they were 'woke'. It's more damning since they pretended they care. At the end, it is us women left for each other. Giving shout outs when it's needed and believing each other when no one does.