RIHANNA’S FOUNDATION DONATES $5 MILLION
Rihanna’s
Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) donated $5 million to the fight against the deadly coronavirus. As per a report in Just Jared, a statement released by Justine Lucas, CLF’s executive director said the fund would support local food banks serving atrisk communities in the US.
Tita as Chowdhury
On March 9, Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor landed at the Mumbai rport from London, UK. After ending a couple of days in the y, y she flew to Lucknow, Uttar ra adesh, on March 11 to help her am mily move into a new house. Ac cording to her father, Rajeev a poor, she took a trip to Kanpur March 13 and then came back the Capital to attend two rties.
But the date that upset the plecart was March 20 when e was tested positive for Covid. Ever since, the Baby Doll sin i nger has received massive bac cklash on social media where ma any have labelled her actions s “criminal negligence”. On arch a 21, an FIR was lodged ainst her at Sarojini Nagar olice Station, Lucknow. “An R might be an overreaction beit understandable because e price for her negligence will paid p for by several innocents,” say ys singer Sona Mohapatra. Ashoke A Pandit, director IFT TDA, says that he has spoken to AAshok Dubey, president of WICE, W and they’re going to take action against the singer. Our office is shut, but the embers have had an internal scussion and we are planning take a strict action against nika. Her behaviour isn’t cc ceptable,” he says. Pandit P adds that the FIR filed is ju ustified. “In a hypothetical itu uation, if any person present the t party gets infected and sses s away, she should be held sponsible for murder.” Musician Jasleen Royal lieves that the problem lies th organising a party at a time e this. “All of us need to stay nd doors and not meet people. I el lieve that it was wrong to be ganising a party in the first ace,” she says.
Divya Kumar who llaborated with Kapoor for a ng in Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 15) asserts that attending a oc cial gathering amounts to “crriminal offence”.
Reverberating Royal, Kumar says, “She went to a party that was also attended by politicians who have constantly been telling us to not go to any social gathering. All of them should be accused of criminal negligence and not just Kanika ji. The ones to be blamed the most are those people who’ve organised the gathering.”
For Mohapatra, the larger problem lies with how the cream of the upper class societies functions. “The real problem lies with our toxic celebrity and VIP culture which mollycoddles famous, rich and powerful people into thinking that they can operate by different rules. Senior politicians and leaders, who ought to have been ‘walking the talk’ of social distancing, attended these parties.”
Veteran music composer and vocalist, Bappi Lahiri, who has worked with Kapoor, opines that attending a party with the symptoms of Covid-19 makes for “irresponsible behaviour”. He says, “It’s an unfortunate incident. She should have taken precautions, but the same time, it’s a medical emergency and I hope she recovers soon.”
Nikhita Gandhi, singer, in a similar vein, says, “People are shaming her on social media. If it’s really that way, then it’s careless and irresponsible of her to socialise.”
Mohapatra adds that celebrities not obliging with airport officials for a medical check-up is also an issue that needs to be addressed. “The privileged and entitled elite of this country misbehave with officials in the airports if inconvenienced for a check. They complain about quarantine facilities as if they deserve to be kept in a five-star hotel,” she shares.
When contacted, music director Tanishk Bagchi says, “I don’t want to comment on it. I want these things to get over as we need to work. We have to be safe and at home.”
(With inputs from
Sonil Dedhia)