The Big Bang Theory: 15 years later, a controversial episode soon to be deleted?

15 years after its American broadcast, an episode of The Big Bang Theory is now under fire for a derogatory remark towards this famous Bollywood actress.

The Big Bang Theory is undoubtedly one of the cult sitcoms of the 2010s. It was in 2007 that viewers first discovered the merry band made up of Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Penny (Kaley Cuoco) , Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrapalli (Kunal Nayyar). But after twelve seasons and 279 episodes, the American comedy finally bowed out following the departure of Jim Parsons. If the series is now available in full on Netflix and Prime Video in France, she recently sparked controversy over an offensive remark towards an Indian actress.

An observation “disrespectful” towards an Indian actress created controversy

Almost fifteen years after its broadcast on American television, an episode of the series The Big Bang Theory may soon be removed. On Wednesday March 22, an Indian-born political analyst, Mithun Vijay Kumar, claimed on his Twitter account that he had issued a legal notice to Netflix asking them to remove the first episode of the second season. An episode in which Raj Koothrapalli and Sheldon Cooper compare themselves to Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. During the conversation, the first said to his friend: “Aishwarya Rai is a goddess. In comparison, Madhuri Dixit is a leprous prostitute“. A phrase that did not pass at all in the eyes of Mithun Vijay Kumar.

“It’s important to hold companies accountable for the content they distribute“

“Recently, I came across an episode of The Big Bang Theory on Netflix where Kunal Nayyar’s character uses an offensive and pejorative term to refer to legendary Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit. As a Madhuri Dixit fan since childhood, I was deeply disturbed by the dialogues. I found this very derogatory and offensive towards Indian culture and women. So I asked my lawyer to send a legal notice to Netflix asking to remove the episode from their platform. It’s important to hold companies accountable for the content they distribute and I hope Netflix takes this seriously.“, he wrote on the social network.

Article written in collaboration with 6Médias