Singer Chinmayi Sripaada has been facing intense backlash on social media after she publicly called out Tamil superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan for congratulating poet and lyricist Vairamuthu on being selected for the prestigious Jnanpith Award.
Vairamuthu has become the third Tamil writer to be honoured with the Jnanpith Award, but the news met with mixed reactions as multiple women, including Chinmayi, named him during the MeToo movement in 2018.
Chinmayi expressed her disappointment and criticised Kamal and Rajinikanth for congratulating Vairamuthu on social media, following which she faced intense trolling from their fans.
In a note addressing the angry fans, Chinmayi confessed that she was also a fan of the icons, adding that she has the right to express her disappointment with men who she "foolishly and naively expected would do better".
"A lot of you are just generally angry because I called out the Rajini Sir and Kamal Sir. I was a fan too," Chinmayi wrote.
She continued, "I have the right to express my disappointment from men who I foolishly and naively expected would do better - especially that one of them is an MP as well - like the characters they play in the films, which a punch line of doing the right thing.
Chinmayi expressed her disappointment and shared what she hopes will happen next, including the setting up of an Internal Complaints Committee according to the Vishkha Guidelines, a safe enquiry committee where women and minors feel emboldened and safe to report.
"I know now - a lot of men who have not been outed publicly by anyone, we know who they are - I know who will never come within a 5km radius of my children. Sadly, you won't know who they are - because there is no safe space to report a molester in Tamilnadu since you all rally to protect your sex offender buddies. Time will be your greatest teacher. And those lessons will not be kind," Chinmayi concluded in her note.
