Soon after cases started to pile up against The Viral Fever CEO Arunabh Kumar, the web-based production house was widely criticised on social media. Joining the bandwagon was comedian Aditi Mittal following which, All India Bakchod (AIB) founder Tanmay Bhat too stood up against the TVF founder. Earlier, an anonymous blog post on Medium, alleging sexual harassment in the TVF office by Arunabh had gone viral. The viral post prompted other women to come out and speak against incidents of molestation at TVF.
After the blog titled The Indian Uber – That Is TVF had gone viral, TVF went on the defensive and completely rubbish any and all allegations against them. People questioned the authenticity of the post that is until two other women raised their voice against their dehumanising experience at TVF.
ALSO READ: Is Arunabh Kumar guilty? TVF CEO breaks silence as more females accuse him of sexual harassment
While filmmaker Reema Sengupta wrote on Facebook about her experience working with Arunabh. “In the middle of the shoot, he touches my shoulder tattoo and tells me he finds it sexy,” she stated. A former TVF employee Aayushi Aggarwal said, “I hope things have worked out for you. It (TVF) is indeed no place for a woman. I would never recommend anybody to work there.”
According to the Mumbai Mirror, in his reply to Sengupta’s Facebook post he said, “The kind of insinuations the FB post makes are untrue. I am a heterosexual, single man and when I find a woman sexy, I tell her she’s sexy. I compliment women. Is that wrong? Having said that, I am very particular about my behaviour – I will approach a woman, but never force myself.”
ALSO READ: TVF denies sexual harassment allegations in viral blog against CEO Arunabh Kumar
An outraged Aditi Mittal bashed TVF and the people defending them in a series of tweets. She tweeted, “why are there more than 9 women/young girls with this claim? How is everyone coming out to tell a concerted lie AT THE SAME TIME?”
Amit, why are there more than 9 women/young girls with this claim? How is everyone coming out to tell a concerted lie AT THE SAME TIME? https://t.co/mgWIzhWCBe
— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017
These are women who have come forward w/FULL risk of never getting a job in this industry again/having this follow them arnd for a long time
— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017
They wanted to work, do fun, amazing things in comedy, how is it fair to them to first suffer in silence &then get slammed for speaking out?
— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017
Silence from the comedy community is deafening.EVERYONE still”texting contacts”/”verifying facts” inspite of hearing stories abt it for yrs?
— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017
AIB’s founder Tanmay Bhat defended the women who spoke against competitor comedic organisation The Viral Fever. “Startups, or any company, have a responsibility to do sexual harassment training, sensitivity training, set up a committee to deal with this,” he said.
Much to process after all that’s been read today. I hope there’s a fair investigation that’s followed in the coming days to come.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017
It is very hard for women to speak up against harassment at the work place and as entrepreneurs it is our duty to make them feel safe.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017
Startups, or any company, have a responsibility to do sexual harassment training, sensitivity training, set up a committee to deal with this
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017
Very often complaints aren’t registered because employees don’t even know how to. Very important to keep reminding / assurance of anonymity.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017
I know many founders are reading this right now – do a townhall tomorrow. Tell your employees that there is a way to address their problems.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017
Earlier, TVF’s Nidhi Bisht defend her organisation, stating that she herself had never felt unsafe at the office. She denied the allegations set by the blogger when the anonymous post first went viral.
5 yrs at TVF & no memory of who this Female employee is. It’s a baseless fictitious allegation. Haters pls don’t stoop down to this level 🙁
— Nidhi NEETU Bisht (@EkThapaTiger) March 13, 2017
However, soon after several other testimonials claimed to have had similar experiences at TVF, Bisht changed her stand and said that cases of sexual harassment should not be tolerated.
My side. pic.twitter.com/cS6tfD2dVd
— Nidhi NEETU Bisht (@EkThapaTiger) March 13, 2017
While Arunabh has denied the allegations as well, he has pushed for an investigation and he says that if proven guilty, then he should be persecuted.
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