ThePrint looks at what the two cricketers said on Koffee with Karan, and what might have led to Rahul getting the same punishment as his teammate
New Delhi: The latest episode of Koffee with Karan season 6 featuring Indian cricketers Hardik Pandya and K.L. Rahul is in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Both the players are facing flak for making “sexist, racist and misogynistic” comments on the show, which was aired last Sunday on Star World and Hotstar.
On the show, the two players spoke about the women they had been with, with Pandya revealing details about how he picks up women at bars.
Pandya apologised on Twitter later, saying he got a bit carried away by the nature of the show whereas Rahul remained silent.
While it was Pandya who made these controversial remarks, Rahul did not interrupt him, and has been penalised along with his teammate.
According to reports, both the players have been dropped from the first one-day international (ODI) against Australia, which is scheduled to be played in Sydney Saturday.
ThePrint takes a look at how the episode unfolded.
Who said what
The show started off with Karan Johar taking pride in hosting his very first cricket episode in the history of Koffee with Karan, followed by conversations and games.
When Karan asked Pandya about his hype-beast image, Pandya said, “It comes naturally to me but I do get influenced by the West Indies, the black culture. I like all that bling and the way they live their life.”
Responding to this, Rahul said he (Pandya) is born in the wrong country.
Rahul also mentioned that he is part of a Bollywood gossip WhatsApp group but when a surprised Pandya asked him why he wasn’t aware of this, Rahul said, “I have kept you away.”
When Pandya said it’s hard for him to remember the names of the women he interacts during parties, Johar asked: “Why don’t you ask women’s names at nightclubs?”
“I like to watch and observe how they move. I’m little from the black side so I need to see how they move first,” Pandya responded.
Karan laughed at his comment whereas Rahul stared at his friend.
Moving from there, Karan reminded Rahul of an episode when his parents caught him with a condom in his wallet when he was 18.
“I don’t know if I can say this, because my mother will kill my dad. Actually my mother found it and she made my dad yell at me. My father later came into my bedroom and he said he is very happy that I was using it but there is a certain age for this and asked me to focus on my cricket,” he said.
Pandya quickly took it from there and shared how his family is okay with things like him being with multiple women. “When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, ‘Main karke aaya hai aaj (I did it today)'”.
He shared another party incident when his parents asked him about his girlfriends. At a party, he proudly shared, he pointed at multiple women and said: “In sabke ke saat kuch na kuch raha he mera (I’ve been with all these women)”.
Apparently, the Pandya family was proud of him.
Also read: Hotstar quietly removes Hardik Pandya Koffee with Karan episode, raises censorship concerns
Rahul: Not distracted by cheerleaders anymore
Karan asked Rahul to share the story behind his first century, Rahul said that he was partying all night in Miami as he was unaware of the fact that he was playing the next day.
“I went back in the morning and I was told that I will be in the playing 11,” he said. This match gave Rahul his first century. “I am proud of the century I made but not what I did the previous night,” Rahul said.
As part of a game in the show, Karan asked how would they decide if they hit on the same women. To this, Rahul said the choice is up to the girl whereas Pandya said, “Nahi nahi aisa kuch nahi hai, talent pe hota hai. Jisko mila woh leke jao (Nothing like that, it’s about talent, whoever gets them, takes them).”
When asked if they ever get distracted by the cheer leaders, Rahul said, “I used to, but not anymore”. And Pandya said, “Match ke baad milna he toh distract hoke kya fayda (Why get distracted when you can meet after the match)?”
Hardik also admitted that he copies and pastes the same texts and sends it to multiple women. Defending this, he said, “Why send multiple texts when you feel the same for all of them?” Rahul touched his forehead in response and Karan laughed it off.
In the rapid-fire round, when Rahul was asked to give a bio for his Tinder profile, he said, “Swipe right to know the better side of me.”
Responding to this, Pandya said, “Who is this nice on Tinder? My bio would be, let’s have some fun.”
Also read: ‘If Hardik Pandya was a woman, she would be hailed as a sexual revolutionary’