Bizarre article that called Priyanka Chopra a ‘global scam artist’ deleted

PRIYANKA Chopra and Nick Jonas have started to irk some with their oversaturated wedding content, but a writer for the Cut took her displeasure to such a bizarre extreme in an article published on Tuesday afternoon that intense backlash flooded social media. The website, a part of New York magazine, replaced the article the next morning with an apology.

“Upon further editorial review, we found this story did not meet our standards,” the editorial note now reads. “We’ve removed it and apologise.”

In the roughly 1,600-word article titled “Is Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’s Love for Real?,” writer and comedian Mariah Smith accused Chopra of being a “global scam artist.” She wove a theory that Chopra, a Bollywood superstar with 32 million Instagram followers who crossed over into Hollywood with her lead role on ABC’s Quantico, is using Jonas, a singer and sometimes actor who rose to fame in the mid-aughts as a member of the Jonas Brothers, for her own gain.

At least, that seemed to be the gist. The article meandered through the couple’s history leading up to their wedding ceremonies, and criticised Chopra’s rich-person lifestyle. A few arguments Smith made:

• Chopra responded to Jonas direct-messaging her on Twitter in late 2016 by suggesting he text her instead, and this showcases her “Hollywoodness” because she had the audacity to tell another celebrity “that her ‘team’ reads her direct messages.” Clearly, this was Chopra’s way of “indicating that he’d been added to the short list of Hollywood men that she and her team would test out for a possible romance.”

• It is ridiculous that Chopra, a self-made woman, would want to spend her money on luxury items. This somehow relates to the assertion that her team was once “shopping around for the finer man.”

• Jonas has long held that he prefers to date older women, so this relationship makes sense on his end. (He is 10 years younger than Chopra, who is 36.) The actress, on the other hand, was previously quiet about her personal life. This makes her suspicious.

• Chopra made Jonas enter their wedding ceremony on a horse because she is awful.

The Cut updated the article before taking it down, seemingly to tone down the language. (Smith’s “global scam artist” remark, for instance, was removed but remained in a nowdeleted tweet.)

Joe Jonas, Nick’s also-famous brother and fellow singer, and his fiancee, Sophie Turner, who stars on Game of Thrones, came to the newlyweds’ defence with tweets that were sent at the same time. Jonas wrote that the Cut should be “ashamed to have someone write such evil words. What Nick & Pri have is Beautiful Love,” while Turner called the article “wildly inappropriate and totally disgusting.”

Among other celebrities who stood by Chopra and Jonas was Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, who tweeted that the Cut has “a lot to answer for .”

“The article on @ priyankachopra was sexist , racist and disgusting,” she continued. “Also it’s written by a woman which is so sad. It reeks of envy and bitterness.”

Arjun Kapoor, who starred alongside Chopra in the 2014 Bollywood film “Gunday,” tweeted that he knows Chopra personally and is “fairly certain @nickjonas hasn’t been kidnapped & forced into a union of love.” — Washington Post.