Popular journalist Arnab Goswami was watching Two Popes on Netflix when stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra tried to heckle him onboard an IndiGo flight, repeatedly calling him a "coward".
This was revealed by singer Adnan Sami in a tweet on Sunday. "I was just speaking to my dear friend #ArnabGoswami & couldn’t help asking him how he remained so calm while he was being verbally assaulted by a joker. He said that since he’s a huge fan of Anthony Hopkins, he was watching “Two Popes” on @NetflixIndia!! How ‘Cool’ is that??,”tweeted the singer.
I was just speaking to my dear friend #ArnabGoswami & couldn’t help asking him how he remained so calm while he was being verbally assaulted by a joker. He said that since he’s a huge fan of Anthony Hopkins, he was watching “Two Popes” on @NetflixIndia!!
— Adnan Sami (@AdnanSamiLive) February 9, 2020
How ‘Cool’ is that??😎😂 pic.twitter.com/GrMsUftodk
In a viral video that Kamra had shared, the anchor was seen trying to avoid Kamra even as the comic continued to pose him a few questions and call him a “coward” repeatedly. "I am part of the tukde-tukde narrative. You should deflate me. You should take enemies of the state down. You should make sure the country is in safe hands," the comic is heard saying, even as the journalist continues to remain silent.
“Are you a coward or are you a nationalist,” the comic continued to ask him.
The entire episode had the netizens divided with some siding with the journalists while others lauding Kamra for giving Goswami a taste of his own medicine.
"The truth is that it was time someone gave him (Goswami) a taste of his own medicine," senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had said. "These are the words he regularly uses to berate his innocent victims, except he does so in a hectoring, bullying manner & at higher volume & pitch than Kunal Kamra does in this video," Tharoor tweeted.
In the wake of the episode, IndiGo, GoAir, Air India and SpiceJet announced action against Kamra, suspending him flying in these airlines.
Following the ban, even Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had come out in support of the comic saying on Twitter , "The ban imposed on Kunal Kamra by four airlines is the act of a coward leveraging his influence with the Govt to silence a critic. Those who use their 'news' cameras as 24x7 tools of propaganda, should show some spine when the camera is turned on them."
