Actor Richard Gere has sparked protests in India after kissing Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty at an Aids awareness rally in New Delhi, reports BBC.Demonstrators in India set fire to effigies of the Hollywood star, while protesters in other cities shouted "death to Shilpa Shetty".
The protesters say Gere insulted Indian culture by kissing the hand and face of the Bollywood actress. Public displays of affection and sex are still largely taboo in India.
Shetty downplayed the incident, saying "it was not so obscene."
The actress said, "This was not such a big thing for people to over-react in such a manner."
"I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here. I understand this is his culture, not ours."
2 comments:
I wish people will lighten up...I was a joke.
This girl has no luck....controversy follows her everywhere....She did nothing.....it was him and now she getting death threats....CRAZY
For a society that has been deeply damaged by colonialism can one think of a more offensive image of a white guy grabbing a daughter of India and forcing himself upon her? It is so symbolic. It is right in line with the image of the white colonist forcing himself upon a country and just taking whatever he wants.
Richard Gere should pay the ultimate price for this.
What bothers me however is those who would blame Shilpa Shetty for this.
Too often women victims of rape in India are blamed for what happened like they wanted the rape to happen or it was their fault the rape happened even when the truth might be that the rapists brutalized them and they couldn't stop the rape from happening.
While of course Richard Gere didn't actually rape Shilpa Shetty, I still see this whole "Blame the Woman Victim" dynamic in place. From what I saw from the video Shilpa Shetty did nothing to cause Richard Gere to act the way he did, and was in fact as shocked as everyone else was that he would act in such a disgraceful manner.
We need to defend this daughter of India, not blame her for this white man's assault upon her.
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