Siddharth apologises to Saina Nehwal for ‘rude joke’ in open letter: ‘Can’t justify my tone and words’

Actor Siddharth has apologised to badminton champion Saina Nehwal in an open letter shared on his social media handles. The actor had retweeted a post by Saina Nehwal in which she had expressed her concern over the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Punjab visit on January 5.

Siddharth’s letter on Twitter read, “Dear Saina,

I want to apologise to you for my rude joke that I wrote as a response to a tweet of yours, a few days ago. I may disagree with you on many things but even my disappointment or anger when I read your tweet, cannot justify my tone and words. I know I have more grace in me than that. As for the joke… If a joke needs to be explained, then it wasn’t a very good joke to begin with. Sorry about a joke that didn’t land.

I, however must insist my word play and humour had none of the malicious intent that so many people from all quarters have attributed to it. I am a staunch feminist ally and I assure you there was no gender implied in my tweet and certainly no intent to attack you as a woman.

I hope we can put this behind us and that you will accept my letter. You will always be my Champion. Honestly, Siddharth.”

On Monday, Siddharth had said that he did not mean to disrespect anyone and his “subtle cock” tweet contained no kind of insinuation. “Cock and bull. That’s the reference. Reading otherwise is unfair and leading. Nothing disrespectful was intended, said or insinuated. Period,” he had tweeted. 

Various activists slammed Siddharth over his comments, calling it “sexist, misogynistic” and demanded that he should apologise to Nehwal. The National Commission for Women (NCW) had also asked Twitter to block the account of actor Siddharth over his “sexist” tweet against the ace badminton player.