In a political exposé, non-profit journalism company Cobrapost has managed to uncover over 35 Bollywood celebrities who are willing to accept money to tweet about their political allegiance.
The exposé termed as ‘Operation Karaoke’ had undercover Cobrapost reporters approach celebrities through their managers posed as employees of public relations firm representing the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. The celebrities, or their managers, were asked if they were willing to promote a political party discreetly through their social media handles. A sizeable number of celebrities agreed to this back door policy for a fee that ranged between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for a post.
Former pornstar and actor, Sunny Leone, was caught red-handed during Operation Karaoke for accepting the deal to participate in political propaganda. She has denied all allegations in a tweet, clarifying that she and her husband, Daniel Weber, carefully vet offers as such before agreeing to it.
In a previous controversy, a video by Cobrapost showed Sunny saying that she would tweet anything to support a political party, if her husband is provided citizenship by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.
Cobrapost has revealed, in its sting operation, over three dozen celebrities which includes singers Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Kailash Kher, Mika Singh and Baba Sehgal; actors Jackie Shroff, Shakti Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Sonu Sood, Ameesha Patel, Mahima Chaudhry, Shreyas Talpade, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Pankaj Dheer, Tisca Chopra, Deepshikha Nagpal, Akhilendra Mishra, Rohit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Salim Zaidi, Rakhi Sawant, Aman Verma, Hiten Tejwani, Gauri Pradhan, Evelyn Sharma, Minissha Lamba, Koena Mitra, Poonam Pandey, Sunny Leone among others.
Four celebrities who refused to take part in misleading their fans and imposing fake political allegiance in exchange for money are Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Raza Murad and Saumya Tandon.
WATCH the full expose HERE:
Source: The Wire
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