Ashneer Grover, the cofounder of BharatPe and a popular judge on Shark Tank India, has found himself embroiled in a social media storm after he demanded the removal of an episode of the YouTube show ‘Pretty Good Roast.’ The episode, which featured Grover as a guest, was eventually taken down by the show’s creator, Aashish Solanki, after Grover threatened legal action.
Solanki, a standup comedian and the winner of Comicstaan 3, recently started the ‘Pretty Good Roast’ show, where he invites influential people and other comedians for a good-natured roast. Previous episodes of the show have featured popular influencers like comedian Akash Gupta, actor Huma Qureshi, and YouTuber Gaurav Taneja.
The fifth episode of the show, which was released on Sunday, did not reveal the guest’s identity initially. However, during the episode, Solanki informed the audience that the guest had explicitly told them that they were not comfortable with the roast and did not want to be featured on the show. The rest of the episode contained jokes and banter between the comedians present on the show, with minor hints about the guest’s identity, which were enough to reveal that it was Ashneer Grover.
Later, Solanki announced that the episode had been removed from YouTube as he did not have the resources to fight a legal battle. ‘Ep 5 of Pretty Good Roast hata diya hai doston. Legal battle ladne ka paisa nahi hai. Sab show pe laga diya tha (The episode has been removed as I don’t have money to fight a legal battle. I used up all of my money for this show),’ Solanki said in a post on social media.
The removal of the episode has sparked a heated debate on social media, with many criticizing Grover for his ‘dictatorial attitude’ and ‘hypocrisy.’ Many pointed out how Grover had often used harsh language and insults towards contestants on Shark Tank India, but could not tolerate being roasted himself.
‘Ashneer Grover insulted so many people in his life and when it came to his roast which he agreed upon consciously, he decided to get it removed and didn’t even let Aashish Solanki post an edited version of it. UTTER DOGLAPAN,’ one user said.
‘Nah! This is just sad. Ashneer Grover you are an incompetent, intolerant egomaniac who needs to be called out for his hypocrisy,’ another user said.
‘Imagine every participant on the decided to take legal action against Ashneer Grover alleging bullying, vilification of character & use of abusive language. But they are more sensible than this clown billionaire,’ a third user said.
The incident has also raised questions about freedom of speech and the limits of comedy. Some have argued that Grover had the right to demand the removal of the episode if he was not comfortable with it, while others have maintained that comedians should be free to roast public figures without fear of reprisal.
