HYPE TO HATE

Influencers in India are sprinting past the line of decency, only to trip and land straight into cancellation.

By Prerna Arora

Once upon a time, influencers used to get famous for creating good content. Now they go viral for saying or doing something so outrageous that the internet collectively decides to roast them. The blueprint is simple: post something controversial, get dragged, release a half-hearted apology, and repeat.

  • India’s got latent Bonus Ep:6| In Frame: Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Mukhija,Ashish Chanchlani,Ranveer Allahbadia and Samay Raina| Sourced from Plex
  • Ranveer Allahbadia’s apology on Instagram after The Latent Show controversy | Sourced from therdigital.com
  • Apoorva Mukhija’s youtube video 2 months after the latent controvery, captioned “Till I say it is”| Sourced from youtube.com
  • Elvish Yadav, Winner of Big Boss OTT season 2| Sourced from NDTV

Take Ranveer Allahbadia, whose YouTube channel- BeerBiceps, has eight million followers. This man, for some reason, decided to ask a contestant on The Latent Show, a show run by famous stand-up comedian Samay Raina: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join in once and stop it forever?”

Excuse me, what? I genuinely don’t know what he was trying to achieve here. What was the goal here? Was this supposed to be funny? He went from a “motivational guru” to a meme faster than you can say “cancelled.” At this point, I am convinced some influencers wake up and think, “How can I make the internet hate me today?”

Another The Latent Show guest, The Rebel Kid (Apoorva Mukhija), hit back with an answer no one saw coming and boom. The internet exploded. Some hailed rebel kid as the saviour we needed, while others were shocked at the sheer audacity.

Ranveer and Apoorva are not alone in this, Big Boss OTT winner Elvish Yadav got arrested for allegedly supplying snake venom at rave parties. One minute a beloved internet sensation, the next, trending for all the wrong reasons.

I have seen it happen too many times, an influencer gets a little fame and suddenly thinks they can say or do anything without consequences. Clout is not forever, the same crowd that built you up will be the first to tear you down.

In my opinion, influencers are human beings, just like the rest of us. They make mistakes and sometimes do things that are hurtful or harmful to others. But when you are an influencer, your mistakes are amplified, and your flaws are put on display for the entire world to see.

One bad take, one questionable action, and you are in the hall of shame, where screenshots live forever. So the next time an influencer decides to chase virality by being outrageous, they might want to reconsider.