Vivek Oberoi is being grilled on social media for having tweeted (now deleted) a meme that many are finding of poor taste. The meme shows three different stages of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s rumoured love life — with Salman Khan, with Vivek Oberoi, and then, her marriage with Abhishek Bachchan. The meme has drawn a parallel to the gap between opinion polls, exit polls — and the actual results.
Sometimes what appears to be funny and harmless at first glance to one, may not be so to others. I have spent the last 10 years empowering more than 2000 underprivileged girls, I cant even think of being disrespectful to any woman ever.
— Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) May 21, 2019
Since Vivek Oberoi’s political affiliation is known to all, whether he is hinting that the exit poll results will have no bearing on the actual results is debatable. But social media, it seems, is after Vivek Oberoi, to school him like he's an adolescent kid struggling to get over his once-upon-a-time girlfriend.
Bollywood personalities, too, are slamming him.
Disgusting and classless. https://t.co/GUB7K6dAY8
— Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) May 20, 2019
Cut Vivek some slack, please! Vivek Oberoi is no creep. He didn’t make that meme. He has not tagged any of its characters either in his tweet. The meme, it seems, made him smile. So, he just shared it. That he is 'shaming' a woman is a clear case of overthinking it all because women can’t be 'shamed' like that — by a meme shared on social media.
Aishwarya Rai’s purported relationships with Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi, and the apparently consequent animosity between Salman and Vivek, are known to all. The gossip around this, and the massive press conference, indeed, that Vivek once held to talk about the role of Salman in Aishwarya's life, have sold many a mediocre Bollywood magazine, website — even movies.
It is actually, contrary to what social media thinks, quite laudable that Vivek Oberoi can now laugh at a meme like that — where he is the butt of some banter.
The Maharashtra State Women's Commission is apparently mulling taking action against Vivek Oberoi. Seriously? Who has complained? Can you please instead go through the very real complaint files gathering dust in your office?
Can we please come off our moral pulpits, people, and let others laugh? Including at their own former loves, their own prior lives, the little moments that once hurt them, and now may cause a smile?
Basically, Vivek is over it. You should follow suit.