Comedian Kunal Kamra on Wednesday said his upcoming stand-up shows, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru, have been cancelled after the organisers received threats.
In a tweet, Kunal Kamra said, “Hello Bangalore people. I am happy to inform that my shows in Bangalore which were scheduled over the next 20 days have been cancelled.”
“They have been cancelled for two reasons. Firstly, we didn’t get special permissions to seat 45 people in the venue that can seat more. Secondly, threats have been made to shut down the venue if I were to ever perform there. I guess this is also part of the Covid protocol and new guidelines. I suppose I am seen a variant of the virus now,” he added.
Kamra’s four-page tweeted note also contains a “formula” for how to cancel a show. It includes five tongue-in-cheek steps, narrating with satire a path that has been followed by rightwing groups to get Faruqui and Kamra’s shows cancelled. For instance, Faruqui’s shows were cancelled in Goa, Mumbai and Raipur, before they were cancelled in Bengaluru.
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Bengaluru police has not made a comment on these allegations yet.
This comes days after comedian Munawar Faruqui indicated he may not do any more shows, after at least 12 of his shows were cancelled in the last two months due to threats from right-wing groups. Faruqui had also spent a month in jail earlier this year on charges of “insulting Hindu gods and goddesses” during one of his comedy shows.
(With inputs from agencies)