Stand-up comedian Samay Raina is currently performing across Canada as part of his comedy tour. Just weeks ago, he found himself in the midst of a controversy back in India after a comment made on his web show, India’s Got Latent. The remark, made by guest Ranveer Allahbadia (also known as BeerBiceps), led to public outrage, FIRs being filed, and the matter even reaching the Supreme Court. In response, Samay decided to take down all the episodes of the show from YouTube.
On Friday, Samay made his first appearance on YouTube since the incident, but it wasn’t with a new video. Instead, he posted something exclusive for his channel’s paid subscribers: a simple post with a heart emoji followed by a hug emoji, symbols that typically express solidarity or affection. The post appeared just before midnight, and even though it was only visible to a small audience, it racked up nearly 8,000 likes within a minute. A fan posted a screenshot showing 7,500 likes just one minute after the post went up, and some users on Reddit reported that it reached over 10,000 likes in just four minutes. One fan commented, “That’s pretty big for a members-only post,” while another joked, “If he had made it public, it would’ve hit 100k likes by now!”
There was speculation that Samay had initially planned to share a video but chose not to, likely due to the ongoing legal issues. One Reddit user suggested, “He probably wanted to post a video, but then realized he couldn’t, so he settled for this instead.”
The controversy surrounding India’s Got Latent started when Ranveer Allahbadia made an inappropriate joke on the latest episode, suggesting something about watching or even joining one’s parents in a sexual act. The comment led to a significant backlash, resulting in FIRs against Samay, Allahbadia, and other panelists.
