Indian publication, Cobrapost exposes 36 Indian celebrities.
We live in an age where you can buy support, endorsements, and promotion. This isn’t new behavior; advertisers and brand managers have been doing this for ages by using celebrities to appear in ads. In the 21st century, this has evolved to include social media influencers as well, across multiple social media platforms. Most of this promotion online has been linked to commercial activity, but never political activity, or at least that’s what we thought.
An Indian publication called Cobrapost has exposed 36 Bollywood celebrities for accepting payments to post statuses and tweets supporting political parties and their opinions.
A big chunk of this belongs to the current ruling party in India, the BJP. Other parties were the ‘Aam Admi Party’ and the ‘Congress’. The celebrities who have been exposed include, Vivek Oberoi, Ameesha Patel, Sunny Leone, Shakti Kapoor, Jacky Shroff among many others. According to this investigation, the rates for these 36 celebrities range from 2 to 50 lakh Indian rupees.
#OperationKaraoke: Oberoi seeks required Data to make his messages look Factually Credible, something not paid for. “Aap data wagaireh bhi denge na…Data ke hissab se hum likh sakte hain … aisa lagna Nahi chahiye ki humein Bola gaya hai likhne ke liye” #BikaooBollywood pic.twitter.com/2SgD5TDMoN
— Cobrapost (@cobrapost) February 19, 2019
It is worth a notable mention that during their undercover investigation, Cobrapost approached Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Raza Murad, and Saumya Tandon, however, these actors refused to take payment for posting any political content.
Their interaction with Sunny Leone, however, was the most interesting simply because she had something else to ask for too. When approached, Sunny said that if the BJP could give her husband, Daniel, Indian citizen status then she would support the party.
#OperationKaraoke: Sunny Leonne has a condition of granting her husband Overseas Citizenship to support BJP: “Modi Sir ne Daniel ko overseas citizen banaya toh hum zaroor support karenge.” #BikaooBollywood pic.twitter.com/nGGw0OonRy
— Cobrapost (@cobrapost) February 19, 2019
Veteran Actress, Mahima Chaudhary has also been exposed in this investigation.
Her case is also unique because she threatens to switch political parties if her demands aren’t met.
Mahima Chaudhry even threatens that if her demand is not met, “Agar aapne dhang se Paisa nahi diya toh main Congress ki taraf se kar doongi” says Mahima Chaudhry #BikaooBollywood pic.twitter.com/ivoZjmMUgt
— Cobrapost (@cobrapost) February 19, 2019
In multiple interviews, a Cobrapost editor, Aniruddha Bahal, spoke about how he came up with the concept for this expose. According to him, he and his team had caught wind of the fact that this is common practice and thus began investigating this.
Given the political climate nowadays, there are some concerns that come up.
Indo-Pak relations are very tense and this time around, big A-list celebrities have spoken out against Pakistan and in support of the BJP and their policies. This expose adds validity to a claim that celebrities are being paid to be anti-Pakistan and pro- BJP. Is it very possible now that Kangana, Ajay, Salman, and Anupam Kher could have taken money for being anti-Pakistan in their statements?
Clearly, political parties in India have realized the power of having a celebrity on their side and are willing to pay to have this kind of support. This just means that celebrities are now being used sort of like weapons against us, at least in the online space- whatever they say generates conversations and sways opinions.
Outside the context of Indo-Pak relations, this expose is extremely important since this is an election year in India, and it exposes a new tactic used by parties to win support, and eventually elections.
Understandably, Indians were upset.
Shame to Democracy . Its nothing but bribe . Its nothing but corruptiom . Its one of the biggest & biggest scam & Illegal practices @BJP4India@narendramodi . This is for all those celebrities who endorse for Money 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕#OperationKaraoke
— Goutham Raj (@Goutham95347150) February 20, 2019
People were disappointed in some of their favorite celebrities.
#OperationKaraoke
Ready to tweet anything about any Party for a little money. They talk about nationalism & high values. Do you think he’s fit to play the role of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi Ji in the upcoming biopic who is clean and is fighting the war against corruption? pic.twitter.com/eZdNkIGqSw— RD SINGH (@RD_BANA) February 20, 2019
While some weren’t surprised that this is the case.
how many people are really suprised at the sting #OperationKaraoke ? Not me!! Make them dance in your weddings, make them promote your brand, make them praise your political party. They will do anything, everything at a “rate” . but when did these “stars” have ethics anyways?
— richa anirudh (@richaanirudh) February 20, 2019
The 4 actors who denied to take part were applauded.
Thank you Vidya Balan, @ArshadWarsi, Raza Murad, and @saumyatandon for keeping your dignity and not falling to the idea brainwashing the people for a political party in return of money. @cobrapost #OperationKaraoke
— Raghuram Rajan (@ArunSFan) February 20, 2019
Aur, of course, jokes tou bannay thay.
My favourite thing about this sting operation is Shakti Kapoor demanding ₹1 Crore for his political tweets even without having a Twitter Account (?) #OperationKaraoke https://t.co/oCOv7XMgx7
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) February 19, 2019
How much this pic would have cost to modi ji… if 1 person gets 50 lakhs total number of persons are 15, if u count actors then its 16😅 #OperationKaraoke pic.twitter.com/OUXy1Lewmu
— Abu_Optimist (@abutoocute11) February 20, 2019
This expose is an important learning curve for us all. When reading online opinions, especially tweets and status updates, one should always be wary of why someone is saying something. If nothing, this expose shows us that even the people we like and follow and susceptible to this, so just always have an open mind when online, and don’t always buy things at their face value.
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Cover Photo Courtesy: bizasia.com, gulfnews.com, and hindustantimes.com