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Snapchat row: Here's what Arjun Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Athiya Shetty, Sooraj Pancholi have to say!

Bollywood celebrities take a stand on the CEO’s ‘poor country’ comment

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Admit it! Until Evan Spiegel’s alleged comment about India being a “poor country” and that his app Snapchat was made “only for rich people,” you were either using the app all the time or had no idea it existed. But now, the slight has become a national insult and Evan and Snap Inc might as well be Public Enemy Number One, even with some Bollywood celebrities.

Whether Evan made those statements or not hasn’t been proved. The allegations came to light based on recently released documents in context of a lawsuit filed by a former employee of Snap Inc. A spokesperson for the company issued a counter-statement to CNN, presumably to stem the damage done: “Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for free.”

What is interesting, is that unlike the rest of us who have either uninstalled Snapchat or given it a one-star rating out of spite for those hurtful remarks (still allegedly made), Bollywood stars — some of them active users — are smartly playing the wait-and-watch game.

When asked for their take on the matter, a few interesting things came to light. Read on...

We’re not users

B-Towners use social media platforms to reach out to fans. But a few we spoke to, don’t use the app at all. Kriti Sanon and Sushant Singh Rajput admitted that they aren’t Snapchat users. As does Arjun Kapoor. He explains why. “Snapchat is more about documenting everything you are doing in your daily life and that’s not something I would like to do.” Bipasha Basu, a power user on Instagram and Twitter has given Snapchat a miss, but is quick to rebuke Evan’s alleged statement. “I was not on Snapchat anyways, but it’s sad to see people talking like this in today’s day and age,” Bips said.

Hearsay?

On the other end of the spectrum, one has stars like Sonam Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Athiya Shetty, Sooraj Pancholi, Neha Dhupia and others, who are extremely active on Snapchat.

We asked some of them if they were aware of the furore caused by the statement and the statement itself. They all were. Sonam insisted she didn’t want to comment on what she saw as hearsay, but added, “There are always two sides to a story. At this point, I don’t think it’s true (that the statement was made).”

Arjun agreed on it being hearsay in the absence of an official statement. He says, “We shouldn’t jump the gun. I have read the news and I don’t think the CEO would make such a statement about any country. It’s all hearsay and till it’s proven with evidence that it’s actually he who said it, we shouldn’t believe everything. His ex-employee made the allegation, so we should hear the other side of the story as well.” Arjun’s 2 States co-star Alia Bhatt also feels that Evan ‘didn’t say it’.

Hero stars Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty too voiced the same sentiments. Sooraj reasons, “How can this be true? If he actually said and meant what he said, Snapchat would have never been in India in the first place. When Indians are already using the app, I don’t think the CEO is stupid enough to say such a thing. And if he really did, then why would he launch it in India anyway? I doubt he said it because this apparently happened a long time back and we still have Snapchat over here so there’s no logic and connection to what the ex-employee claimed. If he actually wanted to, Evan would not have even catered to us, but that hasn’t happened. So I don’t see where the problem is.”

Athiya discloses that she has a personal connection to the Snapchat CEO, who is one of her cousin’s college mates, “I am on Snapchat, but mine is a private account. It’s just a few friends I connect with on the app. As for the controversy, it was his ex-employee who was quoted and not Evan directly, so I’m waiting to see what it actually is. Let us hear his side of the story also. It’s only fair we do that,” she said. Munna Michael’s Nidhhi Aggerwal added, “There’s absolutely zero proof that he actually made the statement.”

And if he did?

While Athiya and Nidhhi both feel that the allegations aren’t mostly true, they also add that they won’t hesitate to uninstall the app, if it’s proven. “If there’s proof that he actually said that about India, then I’ll happily delete Snapchat. And I’m sure his rating will go down because of us ‘poor people’,” said Athiya. On the other hand, Nidhhi also feels the same, “If he has insulted our country, then I would consider not using the app.”

Not using, post-comment

And there are a few celebrities who have already taken a stand and refrained from Snapchatting ever since the news broke out. Jacqueline feels the comment is extremely ‘discouraging’. “I feel really sad about that because like Snapchat to me has been a fun way to show people my world and I don’t know why he would say something like that. Specially when there are people who have spoken such great things about India. Everyone from Bill Gates to Steve Jobs have spoken about how India is such an emerging and important market for them. When there are so many people here in India who are users and supporters of the app, I just find his comment very discouraging. I find it very irresponsible on his part to say something like that.” She also adds that she posted her last Snap story, before this actually came in news. “I already feel a  little discouraged now to use it, honestly speaking. I have not used it since that comment was passed.” Another actress who’s taken such a stance is Neha Dhupia. She told a website, “I know about this comment and I only realised it after I posted my last Snap story. So I think I’m going to refrain from using the app for a while, till he apologises.”

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