BookMyShow, an Indian app that facilitates ticket bookings for every variety of entertainment, has fallen victim to netizens’ wrath for promoting a “controversial” artist, Hussain Haidry, by announcing his upcoming show.
The ‘Hindustani Musalmaan’ who is also extremely eloquent #HussainHaidry is live on his Insta at 9pm today.
— BookMyShow (@bookmyshow) April 10, 2020
Register now: https://t.co/piLwKUIAcA#ItAllStartsHere #BookMyShow #LiveFromHQ pic.twitter.com/rNOR3441Md
Hussain Haidry is an Indian poet and lyricist who rose to fame after his poem Hindustani Musalman (Indian Muslim) went viral on social media. The artist has been accused of “inciting hatred” by making objectionable comments against the majority Hindu community in the past, as he previously shared posts that used terms such as "Hindu Terrorists" and "state-sponsored Hindu terrorism" that were widely circulated on social media platforms.
#UninstallBookMyShow is trending on Twitter India, with tweeples calling on users to boycott and uninstall the app. From the general public to politicians from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, people are showing their disapproval for the app’s promotion of his shows.
I have uninstalled #BookMyShow
— ठाकुर सचिन चौहान 🇮🇳 (@Sachin_thakur1) April 12, 2020
Promoting hate against Hindus & India is not unacceptable
I will never use #BookMyShow app #UninstallBookMyShow #BoycottBookMyShow pic.twitter.com/ZeYD7lBFpy
I have uninstalled your app @bookmyshow for promoting this Hinduphobic Hussain https://t.co/DDe0bj8NCs pic.twitter.com/BgpWUDqoPk
— True Thinker (@sashwat_satya) April 12, 2020
A few Twitterati opined that the app is promoting a Hinduphobe and pledged never to use the application in their lifetime. Other stated that they would urge 10 other people to uninstall the app, and shared his “objectionable” tweets of the past.
So I have uninstalled the Book My Show App cause they're promoting the guy who was spewing venom against the whole faith of the community.#BoycottBookMyShow #BoycottBookMyShow #BoycottBookMyShow #BoycottBookMyShow @bookmyshow pic.twitter.com/8UFfCPAnHG
— Shubham Khandelwal (@slskhandelwal) April 12, 2020
Hello Friends,
— Suresh Nakhua 🇮🇳 ( सुरेश नाखुआ ) (@SureshNakhua) April 11, 2020
It seems @bookmyshow endorses this bigot. pic.twitter.com/UueNseTDWc
There was a similar outcry against the popular multimedia messaging app Snapchat after its CEO Evan Spiegel had allegedly remarked that "poor" India is not its target market.
"This app is only for rich people and I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain,” Spiegel had purportedly said. As a result, Indians uninstalled the app in large numbers and its ratings dropped sharply.
As a 21-day coronavirus lockdown is in place in the country, artists are increasingly using the internet and applications like BookMyShow to promote their upcoming shows and keep up with their work.
