Social media influencer Apoorva Mukhija, popularly known as The Rebel Kid, on Sunday shut trolls claiming that her friend, influencer Rida Tharana, had failed to support her while she was facing backlash over her comments on Samay Raina’s controversial India’s Got Latent episode that landed Ranveer Allahbadia in soup.
Upon her return to YouTube on April 9 after a two-month break, Mukhija expressed gratitude to all those friends who had stood by her during the difficult period. However, Tharana’s name was not mentioned. This fuelled rumours about rift between the two.
“After my video, there have been a lot of assumptions and a lot of hate going around. And as much as I appreciate you guys having my back, this is the last thing I wanted. I wanted to share my story and my feelings—nothing more,” Mukhija wrote, urging followers not to jump to conclusions or spread negativity online.
Putting the rumours to rest, she posted a photo of her hugging Tharana. “Only love for Rida Tharana,” she wrote.
Adding to the online buzz were bizarre claims that Tharana had performed black magic on Mukhija. These comments emerged after Mukhija recounted events preceding her recent trip to Paris in her latest YouTube video.
Mukhija explained that she had been going through an emotionally turbulent time and had consulted a tarot reader — a decision she now regrets. The tarot reader allegedly told her that black magic had been performed on her and advised her to travel abroad to nullify its effects.
The controversial India’s Got Latent episode, featuring Raina, Allahbadia, Mukhija, standup-comedian Jaspreet Singh and content creator Ashish Chanchlani sparked social media outrage following Ranveer’s distasteful comments about parental sex. Multiple FIRs and complaints were lodged against all the judges.
Allahbadia later apologised, and Raina deleted all episodes of the show from his YouTube channel.
Mukhija, who was also accused of making an objectionable comment during the show, appeared before the Mumbai police in connection with the case on February 12.
The National Commission for Women took serious note of the vulgar and offensive remarks made by Allahbadia, Mukhija, Raina, Singh and Chanchlani, summoning them along with the show’s producers, Tushar Poojari and Saurabh Bothra, on March 6.
In her latest YouTube video, Mukhija said that she was nervous throughout the India’s Got Latent episode and struggled to be funny. Feeling anxious, she cracked jokes that she now realises were in bad taste, the 23-year-old said.
In her latest YouTube video, Mukhija apologised to the audience for having hurt their sentiments.
The influencer clarified that her joke about women’s genitals came from a place of “anger and retaliation” as the contestant on the show was humiliating her using obscene language.