Raghav Juyal clarifies after video of him introducing Dance Deewane 3 contestant from Assam gets called ‘racist’

Dance Deewane 3 host Raghav Juyal issued a clarification after a video of him introducing Assamese contestant Gunjan Sinha in ‘Chinese’ drew flak from many, including Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who called it ‘racist’. In a video shared on his Instagram page, Raghav explained the backstory of the video and asked everyone to not judge him on the basis of just one small clip.

Raghav said that he was being called racist after a ‘small’ video of his from Dance Deewane 3 went viral. “Main chahta hoon aap poora show dekh ke aayiye ek baar aur phir woh clipping ko judge kijiye kyunki itni si clipping nikaal ke judge karna theek nahi rahega, meri mental health ke liye bhi aur jo log mujhe jaante hai unke liye bhi (I would like you to watch the entire show and then judge the clip. It is not right to judge me on the basis of just one small video, for the sake of my mental health and the people who know me),” he said.

Explaining the context behind the video, Raghav said that all the children on the show are asked about their hobbies and Gunjan said that her talent was the ability to speak in ‘Chinese’, which he said meant ‘gibberish’.

“Hum log sab haste the kyunki bachche hai, kuch bhi bol sakte hai, ‘main udd sakti hoon’, ‘main samundar mein jaa sakti hoon’. Usne bola, ‘Main Chinese mein baat kar sakti hoon, mera yeh talent hai.’ Sab logon ne clapping shuru kar di, ‘Sunao, Chinese mein baat kar ke.’ Bachchi ne Chinese mein baat kar ke dikhaya (We all laughed because kids can say anything, ‘I can fly’, ‘I can go under the sea’… She said, ‘My talent is that I can speak in Chinese.’ Everyone clapped and asked her to do it. She spoke in Chinese), gibberish Chinese, obviously,” he said, explaining the backstory.
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Raghav said that he introduced Gunjan ‘in her style’ in one episode because of the long-running gag. He added that he is very ‘connected’ to the North East and has family living in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, while his close friends live in Nagaland. He also said that he not only tries to be politically correct but also takes a stand against social injustices and racism.

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Raghav apologised for hurting sentiments and said that it was not his or Colors’ intention to do so. He also urged everyone to look at the whole picture instead of just a small video.

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Earlier this week, a video of Raghav introducing Gunjan using gibberish words including ‘momo’ and ‘chowmein’ was shared online and attracted a lot of criticism. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “It has come to my notice that a popular reality show host has used racist rhetoric against a young participant from Guwahati. This is shameful and totally unacceptable. Racism has no place in our country and we should all condemn it unequivocally.”