I Wrote Most Of The Scene: Kunal Nayyar Responds After Being Called ‘Racist’ For A TBBT Clip

Indian fans of The Big Bang Theory have always had a love-hate response to Kunal Nayyar’s Rajesh Koothrappali.

While his character is an important part of the coolest nerd gang on TV, his dressing and all things Indian are often the butt of several jokes on the show. Of course, it’s all plot devices, and often even self-deprecating, but not all fans are down with it.

Recently, in an episode of TBBT, Kunal’s character Raj and his friend Howard Wolowitz are at a sports bar, watching a game of cricket, when Raj makes a remark about three Indian bowlers—Ravichandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

The @bigbangtheory is actually talking cricket. What? pic.twitter.com/ssHR6QciS1

— Stephen Rooke (@srookejd) November 10, 2017

“Thats Ravichandran Ashwin. He’s amazing! He makes Hardik Pandya look like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar!”

Now, at first glance, this would sound slightly demeaning. You’d want to think that the show is poking fun at these remarkable Indian bowlers’ abilities.

However, Howard’s response, which follows this statement from Raj, is supposed to indicate that this comment was merely a cue for a joke about how some names are a little heavy on the syllables!

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Save some syllables for the rest of us!”

Clearly, the humour was lost on a lot of Indian viewers of the show. They rose in protest and criticism in the one place that would entertain their views and probably find their way to the show creators—Twitter.

1. Umm… sorry WHAT?

"Ashwin…makes Hardik Pandya look like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar"….how does that even make sense? https://t.co/JW0gcoWnVt

— Benny (@therealbennyman) November 12, 2017

2. Racist much?

I guess they should have checked the lines with @kunalnayyar or at least people sitting in the background. Now it just comes off as lazy writing. Maybe a little stereotypical and maybe a little racist as well.

— sugandh (@SugandhShashwat) November 12, 2017

3. Lazy writing and clueless actor mouthing the lines?

Nothing racist about it..just lazy writing…considering Kunal spoke the lines, doesn’t seem like he knows much about cricket either

— Benny (@therealbennyman) November 12, 2017

Looks like their complaints did manage to reach someone from the show.

Kunal Nayyar aka Raj decided to reply personally to the tweets, defending the line that his character spoke and clarifying that he wrote most of the scene and is a cricket fan himself.

https://twitter.com/kunalnayyar/status/929796533079252993

He even questioned back about the writing being called racist.

https://twitter.com/kunalnayyar/status/929796664872771584

Kunal’s efforts may have allayed the bad taste left in the haters’ mouths but there was still some clapback. Bottomline? According to fans, the remark was nonsensical and quite stereotypical.

1. Can the show be a little less racist, please? Thanks.

Even though this scene was not racist , show in general is very racist towards people from india and you happily tag along just to earn big bucks.

— Maninder Singh (@mansrandhawa) November 13, 2017

2. Funny but overdone much?

Not racist. I thought it was, then on second viewing i didn't find it racist. Though, it was confusing for sure. The whole Ashwin making Pandya look like Bhuvi. The syllable thing was funny but don't you think the long Indian words thing has been overdone on the show?

— sugandh (@SugandhShashwat) November 12, 2017

TBH, this isn’t the first time the show has played the ‘joke about Raj’s Indianness’ card.

Raj’s own name has been made fun of countless times, along with Indian food, music and even Indian familial systems. Agreed, that the comment does not seem to make sense on the first watch; however, it doesn’t seem all that derogatory to raise a hue and cry over.

What do you think about the remark and Kunal Nayyar’s justification?