Indian Punjabii rapper Honey Singh’s new year performance was canceled after an online petition [1] was circulated in the social media. The online campaign on change.org came amid the recent Delhi gang rape case [2]. It called to stop Honey Singh’s performance in a hotel in Gurgaon, Delhi.
This petition was signed by 2,633 people. A First Information Report (FIR) has also been lodged against Honey Singh [3] in Lucknow for offensive lyrics.
The petition [1] states:
Let's put a stop to these subversive lyrics that infiltrate the minds of people who don't know better and who then justify to themselves the rightness of a crime that harms another human being, sometimes so severely that they lose their lives.
28 year-old Honey Singh (also known as Yo! Yo! Honey Singh [4]) is the highest paid Indian musical artis [5]t. He has given playback vocals to recent Bollywood films like ‘Khiladi 786′, ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Luv Shuv Te Chicken Khurana’. His music numbers made hits on Asian pop charts.
After the petition Honey Singh’s new song [6] with Jazzy B [7], ‘The Party Getting Hot’ got over one million viewers [8]. It was released online on 28th December.
According to the First Post [8]:
“The video has been so far viewed in more than 150 countries. It is now being ranked as the No.1 most watched video in India on YouTube. It is among the Top-5 most watched videos in UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand over the last few days.”
The writer and award winning film-maker, Gautam Chintanami is furious [9]:
One of his first independent songs is called Ch**t Vol. 1 (Vagina Vol. 1) and if the title wasn’t an indication enough the lyrics, too brazen by any stretch of imagination, go something like: Aja teri ch**t maroon, Tere sar se ch****y ka bhoot utaroon, Ch*****7 ke baad tujhe joote maroon, Tere mooh mein apna l***a de ke m***h maroon (Come let me f*** you till the thought of making love leaves your mind, Beat you with my shoe after I f**k you and then I’ll shove my d**k in your mouth and j**k off).
Amid public outrage over the Delhi rape case the Indian twitterati also questions these anti-women, violence oriented lyrics.
Are the HoneySinghs making Indians misogynistic or is our misogynistic society producing & celebrating pop icons like him?
— rama lakshmi (@RamaNewDelhi) January 1, 2013 [10]
Am all for the campaign against Honey Singh's sexist rubbish, but will we please extend our anger to misogyny in cinema, advertisements,TV?
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) January 1, 2013 [11]
You can't cancel #HoneySingh [12] or those who dance to his peculiar brand of misogyny, but opposing concert certainly a good start. @Raheelk [13]
— Mirza Waheed (@MirzaWaheed) December 31, 2012 [14]
There are a few in the Bollywood who are not for banning the lyrics of Honey Singh. Chetan Bhagat, [15] the author of six blockbuster novels is among one of them.
Hussain's paintings were about artistic freedom for some. The same people want to ban honey singh because this time he offends them.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) January 2, 2013 [16]
@chetan_bhagat [17] nothing artistic about singing out violent and pornographic text and calling it music. #yoyohoneysingh [18]
— shunali shroff (@shunalishroff) January 2, 2013 [19]
Anurang Kashyap [20], film director and screenwriter was also questioned by the twitterati for his professional relationship with Honey Singh.
https://twitter.com/ankash1009/status/284518233892089856
@crazyabtsrk [21] because whether you know it or he's a big hit. Even the likes of Anurag Kashyap are associating themselves with him.
— Amrita Bhinder (@amritabhinder) December 27, 2012 [22]
Gautam Chintamani [9] questions the social responsibility of the Bollywood.
My question is if Bollywood readily gives Yo Yo Honey Singh a pass without questioning his earlier lyrics then are they even serious about taking up social responsibility?…In the quest of being liberal we refuse to call a spade a spade without endlessly debating lest we come across as unreasonable people. And as such does one really need a debate to know which one is the bigger evil between a ‘Main Zandu Balm Huee’ and Honey Singh’s ‘Ch***ey key baad tujhe jutey maroon (Beat you with my shoe after I f**k you)?