BharatPe founder and Shark Tank fame Ashneer Grover, known for his unabashed way of communicating his views, has landed in a controversy after he asked a comedian, Aashish Solanki, to remove a segment from a roast video that he was part of. The incident has not gone down well with social media users, who have hit out at Grover over his "dictatorial behaviour".
Ashneer Grover was part of comedian and Comicstaan 3 winner Aashish Solanki's 'Pretty Good Roast Show'. A clip from the show in which Solanki roasted Grover over being removed as managing director of BharatPe went viral.
"TV pe log talent dikhane jaat hai, ye aukat dikha ke aa gaya. Samajh gaye kiski baat kar raha hoon main? Apni company se kaun nikala jata hai yaar (People show their talent on TV, he showed everyone his status. Which entrepreneur gets kicked out of their own company?)" Solanki said.
The reference was to BharatPe expelling Ashneer Grover as the managing director in 2022 over alleged embezzlement of funds by his family members. The case is currently in court.
The joke apparently did not sit well with Grover and Solanki claimed that the entrepreneur asked him to cut his part from the episode as he was offended by the roast.
In a new post on X and Instagram, Solanki said the full episode was removed from YouTube as he did not have "money to fight a legal battle".
"Ep 5 of Pretty Good Roast hata diya hai doston. Legal battle ladne ka paisa nahi hai. Sab show pe laga diya tha (The episode has been removed as I don't have money to fight a legal battle. I used up all of my money for this show)," he tweeted.
"The response of previous episodes led us to believe our audiences were ready for roast humour. However, it seems that some, especially those in power, are not quite there yet," he further said.
ASHNEER GROVER FACES FLAK ON SOCIAL MEDIA
While the video has been deleted from YouTube and Solanki's Instagram page, it is widely available, triggering an outrage against the former Shark Tank judge.
"Made Ashish delete the whole video. Peak Doglapan (hypocrite)," one user tweeted, referring to the word made famous by Grover during an episode of Shark Tank.
Another tweeted, "Why did he even attend a freaking roast show if he can't handle the roasting!!" A third called him "the Rakhi Sawant of startup world".
Another entrepreneur also called out Grover for attending the show if he could not withstand jokes about him.
"Meet the so-called, self-proclaimed coolest guy in the universe, the 'Doglapan' guy, who went on 'The Roast Show'. He got roasted so badly that he threatened to file a legal case if the show was released. Bhai gaya hi kyu jab jhela nahi jata to (Why did you go if you cannot withstand the jokes)," he posted on X.
