Vijay Mail-ya!

In the rapid-fire question round on Koffee with Karan, when industrialist-MP Vijay Mallya was asked to comment on homosexuality, his response was "ugh."

That single comment has won him the ire of hundreds of people across the nation and abroad.

After the episode was telecast, Mallya's office was flooded with hate e-mails and letters from various gay viewers from around the world who not only expressed their disappointment on Mallya's comment but also demanded a public apology.

A source from Star confirms, "Yes, the gay comment definitely didn't go down too well with many viewers.

In fact, Shobhaa De who was also a guest on that particular episode, too, was quite shocked to the way Mallya responded. There were a series of petitions, e-mails and letters that were sent to Mallya's office."

Maafi maango

In his letter to Mallya, Vikram from GayBombay (a organisation fighting for the rights of people of alternate sexuality in the city) has put a voice to the anger and disdain expressed by like-minded individuals.

In the letter, he said, "I think I'm speaking for a lot of people in saying that I was really disappointed to hear your reaction to Karan Johar's question in the rapid-fire round of his show, when you replied to his one word question of "Homosexuality? " with a very heartfelt sounding "ugh!" Immediately after the show I got calls from people expressing their dismay.

On Tuesday, an editorial in the HiTLIST section of Mid-Day in Mumbai wrote a piece that summed up this sentiment very well. Could you consider clarifying your position on this?

If it was, in fact, a misrepresentation, it would help a lot if you could issue a statement perhaps confirming that, and that you do, in general, respect homosexuals, advocate tolerance towards people of all kinds and support the decriminalisation of consensual adult sex in India.

If on the other hand, you do feel, as appeared from the programme, that homosexuals are disgusting and should not be tolerated, then at least if you can confirm that we'll know where you stand."

Reacting to his letter, Mallya issued out a statement through Prakash Mirpuri, senior general manager, corporate media relations, United Breweries Group that said, "This remark was made on the spur of the moment.

To me, personally, homosexuality may be distasteful but I have absolutely nothing against it. I have many many gay friends."

A positive outcome

When asked if he Mallya's statement met the expectations of the gay community Vikram says, "The entire credit for making Mallya come out in the open and give a statement goes to the editorial in HiTLIST, which made all the difference.

However, looking at the positive side, I am glad that Mallya has at least issued a statement and addressed the issue."