Why Sreesanth And The Bigg Boss Gang Think It’s Okay To Be Homophobic On National TV

Suchanti was subjected to blatant homophobia, as contestants Karanvir Bohra and Shivashish Mishra slyly surmised how the new entrant swings "both ways"

By: Entertainment Desk |
October 23, 2018 7:15 pm

Bigg Boss season 12 viewers were in for a shock after Monday’s episode when the show introduced their two new wild card entries — Rohit Suchanti and Megha Dadhe. Suchanti danced his way to ‘Proper Patola’ into the Bigg Boss mansion, only to stretched discussions on how he is “prettier than the girls of Bigg Boss 12″.

Objectification aside, Suchanti was also subjected to blatant homophobia, as contestants Karanvir Bohra and Shivashish Mishra slyly surmised how the new entrant swings “both ways”. With passing remarks about how Suchanti was a “little girlish” and “probably rode a bicycle”, several contestants insinuated that the wild card entry was either gay or bisexual.

ALSO READ: ‘Do You Offer Sexual Favours?’ How Indian Workplaces Treat Their LGBTQ Employees

The homophobia became more explicit when Sreesanth questioned as to why Suchanti wore the colour purple and went as far as enacting a hair flip and walking in an effeminate manner while referring to the latter.

Here is a clip from Monday’s episode of Bigg Boss 12:

Unseen Footage. #Sreesanth was actually talking about himself. Not #Rohit !

Video Proof attached#BB12 #Biggboss12 pic.twitter.com/dipbqDfwzA

— Sagar Rathore (@Sagar2024) October 23, 2018

Deplorable as it was, none of the other contestants called them out for their behaviour and instead, laughed it off, enabling casual homophobia throughout the house.

Former Bigg Boss contestant Vikas Gupta took to Twitter to express his displeasure with what transpired in the latest episode. Speaking about the incident, Gupta wrote, “It shows that even our country’s educated are so narrow-minded and idiotic enough to actually consider all these attributes for someone having alternative sexuality.” He added, “Personally, I feel ashamed today that none of you had the guts to shut Sreesanth up.”

I am extremely upset after what I saw today on #BigBoss12 on @ColorsTV . So I wrote this ‘The Color Purple’ . Hoping it reaches the right people who read and share it ahead . It’s important that we don’t let people think it’s okay to do this #TheColourPurple #BeKind pic.twitter.com/ohE6m8vgQy

— Vikas Gupta (@lostboy54) October 22, 2018

ALSO READ: Is the average Indian youth homophobic?

Gupta also wrote how the problem lies with “using alternative sexuality as something to be made fun of.” He also questioned the showrunners about whether they intended to take action against such regrettable behaviour.

“Will the Bigg Boss team and Colors take strict action?” he wrote, “Or will they just say that this will not be tolerated and like always, it will happen again.”