‘India’s Got Latent’ row: Kunal Kamra slams Ranveer Allahbadia over impact on comedians

Over a year after the India’s Got Latent controversy upended India’s stand-up comedy landscape, the fallout has found a new flashpoint. On 25 March 2026, comedian Kunal Kamra publicly called out YouTuber and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, accusing him of exploiting the incident for personal brand rehabilitation while remaining indifferent to the damage it caused to the broader comedy community.

How it began

The trigger was an X post by Allahbadia in which he reflected on the professional toll the controversy had taken on his career. “It took me and my team 10 years to build BeerBiceps and The Ranveer Show to where they were. And in one incident, a large part of it was shaken,” he wrote. He followed it up by a Sant Kabir’s doha about patience and growth.

It took me and my team 10 years to build BeerBiceps and The Ranveer Show to where they were.

And in one incident, a large part of it was shaken.

When the team looked to me for next steps, I found myself going back to Sant Kabir’s doha:

धीरे-धीरे रे मना, धीरे सब कुछ होय,
माली…

— Ranveer Allahbadia (@BeerBicepsGuy) March 25, 2026

Kamra did not see it that way.

Replying directly to Allahbadia’s post, Kamra wrote: “30+ artists including me were summoned by authorities for being on Latent. The whole comedy fraternity took a hit because of how stupid you are. Shows were canceled, venues pulled out, judgements made, the pathetic shadow of your stupidity still continues to make lives of funny comedians difficult. You didn't even care to understand that side.”

30+ artists including me were summoned by authorities for being on Latent.
The whole comedy fraternity took a hit because of how stupid you’re. Shows were canceled, Venues pulled out, Judgements made, the pathetic shadow of your stupidity still continues to make lives of funny…

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) March 25, 2026

Kamra's frustration did not end there. He went on calling Allahbadia a barrier to creative progress and accusing him of positioning himself as a victim while continuing to profit from the attention the controversy generated.

The Deeper Tension

What Kamra's post brings into focus is the ripple effects on the comedy industry beyond the show itself. In the aftermath, comedians have found themselves operating under a cloud of legal and reputational uncertainty that had little to do with anything they personally said or did.

Allahbadia, as a podcaster and a content creator, was a guest on a comedy show, not a comedian himself, and according to Kamra the narrative of personal suffering is hard to digest, particularly when the people whose actual livelihood depends on stage comedy are still dealing with the consequences.

What was the IGL Controversy?

The controversy began in early 2025 when Allahbadia, appearing as a guest judge on Samay Raina’s YouTube talent show India’s Got Latent, asked a contestant an explicit and vulgar question. The clip got viral quickly, triggering a national backlash.

And as a result Samay Raina took all episodes of India’s Got Latent offline, but the issue had escalated beyond social media with multiple police cases being filed and the matter was also raised in parliament around regulation of online content.

Allahbadia later issued an apology, acknowledging a lapse in judgment.