Bollywood Diva Sonam Kapoor has had her share of gaffes on social media, but his time it was not her fault.
It all started with a story by left leaning site Scroll.in which had the following headline:
The above report itself was based on a story by the Indian Express titled “Being homosexual is ‘a tendency’, says Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at JNU event”.
Scroll.in’ story soon began to generate outrage on social media since the headline seemed to suggest that Sri Sri had somehow spoken against homosexuals.
Sonam Kapoor then jumped in and expressed her opinions on the story:
???????? get with the program!!! https://t.co/Dpf6lDOcDe
— Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) November 14, 2017
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WTF is wrong with god men, if you want to learn something about Hinduism and culture it’s better to follow @HindolSengupta & @devduttmyth
— Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) November 14, 2017
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Homosexuality is not a ‘tendency’ it’s something you are born as and is absolutely NORMAL. To tell someone you can change is irresponsible.
— Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) November 14, 2017
However, simultaneously, users on social media had picked up the spin presented by Scroll.in:
And the reference to change in sexual orientation was there because the question mentioned that the person had discovered his sexual orientation rather late and his friends make fun.
Sri Sri was emphasising it is normal to discover yourself at any time in life.
— shilpi tewari (@shilpitewari) November 14, 2017
A video of the speech too was available online, which showed the exact words used by Sri Sri Tavi Shankar:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY9UOzNTQ_U]
A homosexual person asked Sri Sri a question, as to how he should deal with being mistreated by his friends. Sri Sri replied:
You treat yourself better, doesn’t matter how others treat you. You don’t think you are sick or something’s wrong with you. If you stand up, nobody can insult you… But if you feel weak and meek, and if you feel bad about yourself, nobody can make you feel better. This is your tendency now. Just acknowledge it and accept it, and know that this tendency is not a permanent thing. It may change. I’ve seen many men who were gay, later on turn into heterosexuals, and there are those who are normal — what are called straight people — end up being gay later in life. I want to you to focus beyond the body identity.
The full transcript showed that Sri Sri had not been speaking against homsexuality but in fact he was very understanding and supportive of the person’s orientation. This in fact is consistent with Sri Sri’s stance on homsexuality in the past:
Homosexuality has never been considered a crime in Hindu culture. In fact, Lord Ayyappa was born of Hari-Hara (Vishnu & Shiva). #Sec377
— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) December 11, 2013
Thus, the Scroll.in story which had selectively misquoted Sri Sri was doing great disservice to his views on homosexuality. Later in the evening, Scroll.in realized the error of their ways and updated the old story, completely changing the headline:
There was a small note at the bottom indicating the updation of the headline:
In the past too, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been the subject of media hitjobs, one of the most famous ones being that by Sagarika Ghose. In the current case, although Scroll.in has withdrawn the article, the damage is done. Identical headlines have already sprung on many portals such as HuffPost, MirrorNow and TheQuint:
Sonam Kapoor too has been alerted by many on social media of the truth. Will these portals change their headlines now? Will Sonam Kapoor apologize? Will Sri Sri Ravi Shankar pursue legal action on the media houses?
