Janhvi Kapoor, others from Bollywood get mindful of posts after social media backlash amid COVID-19

Days after Bollywood stars were called out for being disrespectful to the thousands who are grappling from the surge in COVID-19 cases in India, celebrities such as Janhvi Kapoor have changed their social media postings to be more mindful of the pandemic.

Kapoor, who was one of the stars who was called out by people on social media for posting ‘frivolous’ images of her recent holiday in the Maldives and flaunting her ‘privilege’ while thousands suffered, attempted to do some damage control with her latest posting of a magazine cover that features her.

“In these trying times, I know it’s important to be sensitive to the troubles we as a country are facing & I would never want to be inconsiderate towards that. This cover, however, and the subsequent posts of it had been committed to a while back and were shot before lockdown,” posted Kapoor.

“We were as safe and precautious as possible. I hope all of you are staying safe and strong,” she added.

On Friday, Kapoor also posted a letter of apology on World Earth Day. “I’m sorry for every time I didn’t value what you’ve given us…. Sorry for thinking you’d never run out of patience waiting for us to care for you the way you’ve cared for us. For ignoring the tears you shed every time you watched us abuse ourselves, each other, and you- our home.

“I hope we earn back the right to roam freely, wander with abandon. Earn back the luxury to share our thoughts, our voices, our dreams and to realise them – in a tangible realm. The luxury to breathe the same air without suspecting it of a disease that might take our life…”

Kapoor isn’t the only one being apologetic on her social media. Celebrity stylist Tanya Ghavri, who is best known to dress up Kareena Kapoor Khan, posted a picture of the actress on her social media with a message of her own: “With simply no intention to be insensitive, this picture added a light smile to my face and hope it does to yours too.”

Their posts comes days after celebrity talent manager Rohini Iyer took to social media to slam stars who were oblivious to what was going on in India. “For all of you vacationing in Maldives and Goa and exotic locales, remember it’s a holiday for you. It’s a [expletive] pandemic all over. So don’t be an insensitive idiot and post pictures of your privileged life. You are not only coming across as brainless, but also completely blind and tone dead,” posted Iyer on her Instagram Story.

Iyer also cautioned them not to view the pandemic as a time to boost their social media following.

Recently, several prominent including Alia Bhatt, Disha Patani, Shraddha Kapoor and Tiger Shroff jetted off to the Maldives and followed it up with countless images of their vacations even as India continued to battle record numbers in COVID-19 cases. Over the weekend, cases crossed 300,000 in India with a desperate short supply of oxygen that has seen several doctors take to social media to plead with authorities to step up production.