Daughter of Vivian Richards Gupta Masaba takes Pakistani former cricketer Ramiz Raja to cleaners for his reaction to racist remarks on the relationship between former West Indian cricketer and renowned Bollywood actress Neena Gupta.
Masaba took to social media and slammed his comments. Masaba said Raja has no grace. “Sickening to see you laugh on national TV in Pakistan at something the world stopped laughing at about 30 years back. Step into the future. All three of us are here with our chin up,” she wrote.
In a story on Instagram, Masaba said, “No matter who you are, I will call you out on racism and shaming my mother on television. Won’t have it. That is still my fight.”
The issue came up when a comic artist made racist remarks about the relationship between former cricketer Vivian Richards and Bollywood actress Neena Gupta. The comedian made a joke about the skin color of Vivian Richards while Ramiz Raja was seen laughing at the comments. The show was aired during the Asia Cup. The clip from the show went viral on social media a few days ago which prompted the reaction on social media.
https://x.com/MasabaG/status/1724753155156783300?s=20
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One of the hosts said: “I do watch cricket matches and my heart broke when Vivian Richards went into a relationship with Neena Gupta. I wrote a couplet then. ‘Jo ladkiyan khud ko kehti hain malika-e-aliya, Unko fir milta hai Mr Kaliya.’”
Vivian Richards and Neena Gupta never got married. At the time of the relationship, Vivian Richards was already married. Masaba Gupta brought up the issue on her social media which caught the attention of the Pakistani social media users.
Pakistani cricket fans and social media users slammed the comic artist and former cricketer for passing insensitive remarks and at the same time laughing at it. They urged Raja to apologize.
The Ramiz Raja controversy came just a few days after Abdul Razzaq passed on Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai. In a statement that raised eyebrows, Razzaq compared the current situation of Pakistan Cricket, saying, “If you think that by marrying Aishwarya Rai, a good and pious kid would be born, it would never happen.” He used this analogy to emphasize that the ‘intentions’ of the cricket board must be pure.