Lata Mangeshkar is in news these days for a controversial spoof video created by comedian Tanmay Bhat. While the veteran singer's fans have slammed the comedian for the act, leading daily New York Times has now come under the scanner for calling Lata a "so called singer."
NYT reported the incident of Tanmay making a snapchat video allegedly insulting Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar. However, the report introduced Sachin as a "highly popular cricketer" and Lata as "so-called playback singer for Bollywood films."
This irked fans of Lata who took to Twitter and criticised the daily. Meanwhile, South Asian Bureau Chief, New York Times, Ellen Barry clarified on the micro-blogging site that "so-called" was used in the report for non-Indian readers who are unfamiliar with the term "playback singer." However, angry fans of the 86-year-old Bharat Ratna awardee are not ready to buy the clarification made by Barry.
Tanmay had raised several eyebrows by sharing the video on Facebook. The video had showed the comedian imitating Sachin and Lata simultaneously, using a feature called Face-Swap. He was seen making fun of Sachin's batting style and Lata's appearance. Tanmay had even suggested that Lata is "5, 000 years old" and she should "die now."
The video became viral in no time and garnered strong reactions. Many celebrities expressed disgust and criticised the comedian for "insulting" two legendary figures of the nation, who are also Bharat Ratna awardees. An FIR was also registered against Tanmay.
It has also been reported that the Mumbai police have asked Facebook and YouTube to remove the video after receiving complaints from politicians. Check the tweets criticising NYT for calling Lata a "so-called singer."
Then comes the clarification from Ellen Barry but apparently even that did not calm her fans down.
