Kusha Kapila addresses the backlash over jokes from her recent appearance in a roast show

 "I may have sat for the roast but I don’t stand for everything that has come out of it," says Kusha Kapila in her statement addressing her participation in a recent roast show.

Content creator and actor Kusha Kapila found herself at the centre of controversy after being part of a roast show on YouTube, that fans have speculated to be an episode of Aashish Solanki's 'Pretty Good Roast Show'. The episode featured stand-up comedians Samay Raina, Aaditya Kulshreshth, Shreya Priyam Roy, and Gurleen Pannu, and included jokes about Kapila's personal life, notably her divorce. However, the creator recently posted a statement on YouTube Community addressing the episode after multiple of her followers expressed their distaste over the nature of the roast. 

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In her statement, Kusha began by explaining her reasons for participating in the roast as something done in good faith for a friend and the lack of any financial compensation for the comics or guests involved. With this, she debunked the notion that participants were paid large sums to endure the insults done to them in the show. She blamed her lack of preparedness on not having access to the jokes beforehand like it's done in the roasts in the West. "Maybe I should have asked for a script and known better but since friends were involved I didn’t. Rookie mistake," she added. She highlighted tolerating some 'really raspy jokes' in a live setting, but also not being okay with some being broadcast to millions that she described as "shockingly unkind" and "dehumanising".

Kusha spoke about the extensive negotiations to get some jokes censored while highlighting the trolling she would have received for both, allowing the episode to air or the accusations of cowardice for choosing to sensor jokes. However, she also did not forget to mention how her silence on the matter was a choice for peace over engaging in an endless discourse that could vilify women. She noted this by highlighting the gendered criticism she faced, which suggested she "deserved" the jokes as a divorced woman. Taking this as a learning curve, the creator addressed her fellow female artists to establish strict boundaries for such events. 

Here's the statement that Kusha released on YouTube:

This roast marked a third in her career, and Kusha reinforced that while she participated in the roast, she did not endorse all of its content. "I may have sat for the roast but I don’t stand for everything that has come out of it." The creator also addressed that her episode was the first to be shot in January and how the team, has since, learned to respect boundaries in subsequent episodes, particularly those involving women.

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