KL Rahul Laments Controversial Celebrity Chat Show Interview With Hardik Pandya: Scarred Me...

KL Rahul opened up about the 2019 interview for a popular chat show that led to him and Hardik Pandya facing a short ban by the BCCI. Hardik and Rahul faced criticism following their alleged sexist and racist comments on the show. The two cricketers faced provisional suspension for their remarks on the show and were later fined ₹20 lakh each by the BCCI. Eventually, the episode was also taken down from OTT.

Now, looking back at the time, Rahul confessed that he was "scarred" after what followed the airing of the controversial episode.

'This never happened with me'

KL Rahul said that the interview "changed him completely". "Now I don't (do that) because that (KWK) interview scarred me massively. Getting suspended from the team. I have never been suspended in school, I have never been punished in school. Matlab woh hua hi nahi hai mere saath (All this never happened to me). I don't know how to handle it. I did mischievous things in schools like chota mota (small things), but nothing to get me expelled from school or my parents have had to come. That (KWK interview and subsequent backlash) was my first (fall), and then you realise how bad it is," the Indian cricketer said in a podcast.

What happened in the controversial 2019 interview?

After the episode of a popular celebrity chat show featuring KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya aired in 2019, some of the comments made by the cricketers were dubbed "sexist". While Rahul was seen on the back foot, it was Hardik who made controversial comments unabashedly throughout the show.

"When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, 'Main karke aya hai aaj (I had sex today)'. At a party my parents asked me 'acha tera wala (women) kaun sa hai [who is your interest here?] so I said yeh, yeh, yeh (pointing out women)' and they were like 'waah proud of you beta'," Hardik said, talking about his dating life while growing up.

Rahul revealed how they both decide on who gets to date a girl when the host asked them what happens when both of them like a particular person? "Upto the woman," Rahul replied. Later on, the episode was also taken down from OTT.