Comedian Samay Raina wants ‘ad revenue’ from Deepika Padukone depression joke

Comedian Samay Raina responded to the backlash he received for his YouTube show after a contestant mocked actor Deepika Padukone’s battle with depression on the stage. On Tuesday, November 19, he took a jibe at the whole criticism and shared a screenshot of a Reddit post about it.
Samay wrote on his Instagram stories, “To everyone who is outraging on Twitter, one request: Could you please outrage in my YouTube comment section so I get some ad revenue from the traction, at least (sic).”

A screenshot of Samay Raina’s Instagram stories

Several social media users called the ‘joke’ distasteful and disrespectful to not just Deepika, but also to those who are fighting mental health issues despite fearing people’s judgement. Samay, who’s the creator of the show India’s Got Latent, was joined his fellow comedians on the panel. Tanmay Bhat, Raghu Ram, neurologist Dr Sid Warrier and Balraj Singh Ghai were with Samay on the same panel, and were seen laughing uncontrollably.
The contentious ‘joke’ was made by a female contestant, named Bunty Banerjee, who referred to Deepika-Ranveer Singh’s newborn daughter, and said, “Deepika Padukone also became a mother recently, right? Great, now she knows what depression really looks like (sic). She added, “I am not trying to insult breakup-wala depression”, took a pause, and said, “I am”.
While the judges were seen laughing, hiding their faces, and looking at each other in dismay, the social media users trolled them all for trivialising clinical depression, a medical condition which remains one of the biggest taboos all across the world. Many also highlighted how it was more disappointing to see a woman making fun of another woman’s struggles.
India’s Got Latent is known for inviting contestants with edgy comic skills and out-of-the-box ideas. It has got its share of fans online.