Bollywood Actor Siddharth Trolled for Calling Badminton Star Saina Nehwal ‘Subtle C*ck Champion’

Olympic bronze medallist and former world no. 1 badminton player Saina Nehwal from the city of Hyderabad, capital of India's Telangana state, has been conferred with the nation's third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan and two sports awards - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award - for her outstanding achievements as an ace shuttler.

Indian actor Siddharth, known for his performance in the movie 'Rang De Basanti', is facing a severe backlash for the usage of an alleged sexual innuendo in his reply to badminton champion Saina Nehwal and referring to her as "Subtle c*ck champion of the world".

Nehwal had earlier tweeted about the security threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Punjab state wherein his convoy was stuck on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesting farmers.

"No Nation can claim itself to be safe if the security of its own PM gets compromised. I condemn, in the strongest words possible, the cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists (sic)," Nehwal tweeted.

The 42-year-old actor Siddharth replied to Nehwal's tweet, saying "Subtle c*ck champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India. Shame on you #Rihanna (sic)."

Subtle cock champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India. 🙏🏽

Shame on you #Rihanna https://t.co/FpIJjl1Gxz

— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) January 6, 2022

His remark didn't go down well with netizens, who took to social media, slamming the actor and demanding an apology.

However, Siddharth claimed that he didn't do anything disrespectful as he was allegedly referring to the 'Cock and Bull' idiom which means an unbelievable tale that is intended to deceive.

For it to be a COCK & BULL reference, there's no way one can drop bull from it because that's not how its used. It has a very specific usage like cock-and-bull story

It's clear what subtle cock here meant

His last words shame on rihanna clarifies the disrespect #Siddharth pic.twitter.com/fQcaj1dDkr

— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) January 10, 2022

The highlight is that he came up with this *cock and bull* as a cover up.https://t.co/Jyegz2DANU

— copyleft (@Sheikh_Copyleft) January 10, 2022

This clarification is the epitome of "cock and bull" story https://t.co/XoO8JVxuGi

— Sriniwu (@Sriniwu1) January 10, 2022

India's National Commission of Women (NCW) has also hit out at the actor and sent him a notice for his "derogatory" and "misogynist" remark.

Calling it unacceptable, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma has complained to the police and also urged Twitter India to block the actor's account.

@NCWIndia has taken cognisance. Chairperson @sharmarekha has written to @DGPMaharashtra for investigating & registering FIR in the matter. NCW has also written to @TwitterIndia for blocking the actor’s account & to take appropriate action against him for posting such remarks. https://t.co/pW1hT9zz6W

— NCW (@NCWIndia) January 10, 2022

Netizens along with Shiv Sena politician Priyanka Chaturvedi, singer Chinmayi Sripaada, and many others have also criticised the actor.

Saina Nehwal is our country’s sporting pride, she has as much right to a political opinion as rest of the nation. You disagree-you debate, you don’t ever demean even if you strongly opposed to her thoughts and ideas. This illiberal approach to ‘liberal discourse’ is damaging.

— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) January 10, 2022

This is upsetting for us … express ur opinion but choose better words man . I guess u thought it was cool to say it this way . #notcool #disgraceful

— Parupalli Kashyap (@parupallik) January 10, 2022

This is really crass, Siddharth. You just contributed to what a lot of us women are fighting against.

— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) January 10, 2022

Hey Dirty Scumbag @actor_Siddharth

Choose your word wisely!

Millions of Indians proud of @NSaina achievement... She is Daughter of India!

Its a mistake of your parents those failed to teach you to respect others, especially Women's! pic.twitter.com/uZoTLCSxVh

— Keerthi Vasan 🇮🇳 (@kvasan_c) January 10, 2022

Tweet by actor Siddharth responding to shuttler Saina Nehwal is sexist, misogynistic. Irrespective of people's political views no need to make such crass remarks targeting a woman of accomplishments. He must apologize, and Twitter should suspend his account: Activist Brinda Adige pic.twitter.com/HVZGvN9wpr

— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2022

'Very wrong to make such derogatory statement, he should apologise,' Saina Nehwal's father on Siddharth's tweet

Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/kYzM6vbV5O#SainaNehwal pic.twitter.com/Hp35lbe6xB

— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) January 10, 2022