HIGHLIGHTS
- AIB says Tanmay Bhat confronted Utsav in private
- The confrontation led to Utsav further harassing the woman
- We made a big mistake, we’re sorry, AIB said
In a fresh statement, comedy group AIB has accepted that they knew about comedian Utsav Chakraborty’s misbehaviour with women and still kept working on projects with him. The group shared a long post on their Facebook account, detailing how Tanmay Bhat, one of the founding members of the group, learnt of the allegations against Utsav and even confronted him about it.
On Thursday, Utsav was accused of sending sexually explicit messages to women, including minor girls, in a Twitter thread by a a writer-comedian. She shared several accounts of women who claimed to have received unsolicited explicit photographs from Utsav.
He has since apologized for his behaviour but also denied sending explicit images to women. AIB also offered an apology for having played a part in the story and said that they were removing all videos featuring Utsav, pending an investigation.
By harassment, we meant that Utsav called up the person, cried, apologised, putting her in an uncomfortable position. Again, to clarify: this incident was only about the unsolicited picture in question. None of the other allegations were known to us.
— All India Bakchod (@AllIndiaBakchod) October 5, 2018
Apart from Tanmay Bhat, nobody else at AIB was informed about the “specifics of the situation” out of “respect for the person’s [the woman who made the allegation] privacy”.
And, Utsav kept working with AIB in a freelance capacity. “We made a big mistake,” AIB said.
AIB also admitted that even after the incident involving Tanmay, the group came across “stray insinuations” against Utsav in “passing”, insinuations that were “vague with no specific sexual details and no indication of the degree of sexual transgressions”.
A statement ; We're sorry pic.twitter.com/Lpa9HKyORb
— All India Bakchod (@AllIndiaBakchod) October 5, 2018
AIB co-founder Tanmay Bhat too owned up to his actions. “I’ve let a lot of people down recently. I’m sorry. I messed up,” Tanmay said in at tweet.
After confronting Utsav, he said he sent the picture by accident, later called the victim crying, apologizing, hence harassing her further. I should've ended ties then, and I didn't, and it is my fault. I'm truly sorry. I should've acted stronger.
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) October 5, 2018
AIB, a group made by the stand-up comics hogged all the limelight when the news broke that one of their stand-up comedians, Utsav Chakraborty sexually harasses minor girls.
