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Hindustan Times

Who is Kaviraj Singh? Internet wants 'Bill Burr of India' cancelled for sexist jokes, fans pay thousands to prevent that

This past week, comedian and writer Kaviraj Singh found himself in the midst of a controversy regarding some of his old stand-up acts using profanity for women and allegedly sexist jokes. It began with content creator Aman Pandey calling him out on Instagram on Monday, and led to several female comics and even actor Swara Bhasker slamming Kaviraj in social media posts. But Kaviraj, who has been dubbed 'Bill Burr of India' by his followers, continues to get support not just from his fans but even from other comedians in the country. Stand-up comic Kaviraj Singh has been under fire for his recent jokes on women. Who is Kaviraj Singh? A comic, writer, and producer, Kaviraj Singh initially led content creation for popular platforms like The Viral Fever (TVF), Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Being Indian, before assuming his current role as the Channel Head of Pocket Change. He is also a stand-up comedian with several popular comedy specials. His videos routinely get millions of views on Instagram and YouTube. His most recent comedy special, 'Are women becoming men?', has 2.7 million views on YouTube. Shorts and Reels from the 41-minute video have widely been shared on Instagram and other social media platforms, with some criticising and others praising him. What is the controversy? Sharing a video of Kaviraj comparing influencers to sex workers in a derogatory manner, Aman Pandey wrote, "Stand up comedy in India has stooped to doing incel comments and avg uncle WhatsApp forwards on stage." The video showed Kaviraj use 'r***i', an offensive Hindi word for sex workers, as a punch line when talking about social media creators. Soon, social media users dug out other videos of the comedian where he compared women to buffalo while mocking feminism. In one video, he says women are meant to nurture as they are 'born with a food-making machine on their bodies'. Many online commented that the jokes were not just sexist and regressive, but disguised under the garb of dark humour. This led to widespread condemnation for Kaviraj, but elicited no response from the comic himself. Fans defend Kaviraj Singh The videos shared on his YouTube have fans of the comic defending him. Many even donated money and urged the comedian to 'keep up the good work'. One comment read: "PLEASE, DO NOT REMOVE THIS VIDEO AND THANKS FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH. KUDOS." It was accompanied by a donation of ₹2000. Another wrote, "Thanks for speaking for men depressed for long time in relationship laughed and cried at same time bro. Keep rocking." Many paid in US dollars as well. As one fan summed up the sentiment: "Like someone said, it felt unfair to watch this and not have to pay. Great content!" Online, many have compared Kaviraj to Bill Burr, the American podcaster and comedian who has often been called out for his misogyny. Kaviraj's fans, however, wear this comparison as a badge of honour. Support, both verbal and monetary, is flowing in for Kaviraj Singh. Even several comedians and industry insiders have defended Kaviraj. Comicstaan Season 1 winner Nishant Suri released a video in his support and said, 'Comics are hypocrites. When the right-wing attacks comics, they come up with 'freedom of speech', but when a comic does it, they come up with calls for a ban.' Kaviraj Singh responds HT reached out to Kaviraj for a response over the furore, and the comedian stated he was not aware of who Aman Pandey is or what his video was till some of his acquaintances told him about it a few days ago. "I was never curious enough to check his posts personally. There are all kinds of reactions when an art piece comes out," said Kaviraj. "About the joke and the usage of the word 'r***i', I think stand-up comedy is more like a horror/suspense movie where you set up the premise, and it's better if the reveal (the punchline) comes with a 'shock'. I wanted to point out the practice where a large segment of female influencers showcase their bodies for likes on Instagram. It was looked down upon in the past; now it's praised. The joke is on the CULTURE SHIFT, not on either of the professions. I'm indifferent to what a woman/man does to survive as far as it's legal," he added. When asked to respond to those calling his jokes sexist, the comedian said, "People have said my jokes are sexist, maybe they are for them, but for me, they aren't. I did not write anything to bring anybody down; my sole intention was to make it funny, which it is. People react differently when a joke is on them than when it is on someone else. When I wrote the joke 'Kamaao B*dk', I was flooded with female praise since the target of the joke was men; now the target of the jokes are women, and I am talking to a journalist." Kaviraj added that he had pushed boundaries with his jokes earlier, too, and received criticism from various quarters. "I received backlash from men when I wrote 'Kamaao b*dk', they called me a simp, a male feminist and what not. My second video made fun of the spiritual guru business in India. I was attacked for that. In the third video, I made a couple of jokes on religious extremism in politics, and received a lot of hatred then. And this time it was this, 'Women'," he told us, adding, "It's worth a mention that I also got a lot of praise from women too for this set, many have kindly messaged me during the last few days, wishing me well and to stay strong." The comedian said that the increased scrutiny on comedy in the last few years has also led to more criticism of stand-up acts. The opening slate of Kaviraj's latest comedy special states 'these are just jokes'. But there is also an argument that comedians, too, have certain responsibilities in the public sphere. Kaviraj agrees with both. "I do stand by the fact that, at the end of the day, these are just jokes, written with the sole intention of making people laugh. And I think that is, or at least should be, the primary responsibility of a comedian, to make people laugh. Also, there are things like, the timing of the joke, social context, sensitivity index of the audience etc., which a comic needs to keep in mind while delivering the material, but in case he/she misses, the audience should just ignore the joke and it will die out on its own, the artist will alter his style since nobody wants to write a joke that has no audience. But if it's finding its audience, and still not funny particularly to you, then maybe it's not for you. Let the audience decide," he said.