5 hours Ago
BookMyShow reportedly removed Kunal Kamra’s content and delisted him amid the controversy over his jokes on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has written an open letter to the ticketing portal BookMyShow, days after it was reported that they removed his content and delisted him amid the controversy over his jokes targeting Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Now, Kamra has penned an open letter to BookMyShow, asking that they hand over contact information of the audiences it collected from his shows.
In his letter shared on X (previously Twitter), Kmara wrote, “Dear BookMyShow, I understand that you need to maintain a cordial relationship with the state, and I know that Mumbai is a major hub for live entertainment. Without the state’s cooperation, iconic shows like Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses wouldn’t be possible. However, the issue at hand isn’t about whether you can or will delist me — it’s about your exclusive right on listing our shows.
By not allowing artists to list their shows through their own websites, you’ve effectively prevented me from accessing the audience I’ve performed for from 2017 to 2025." He further added, “You take a 10% cut of the revenue for listing shows, which is your business model. However, this raises an important point: No matter how big or small a comedian is, we are all compelled to spend between 6,000 to 10,000 rupees a day on advertising to reach our own audience.
This cost is an additional burden that we, as artists, must bear." “While you might argue that data protection is a concern, the question of who protects what data, and from whom, is a much broader conversation. What I’m requesting is simple: please ensure that you hand over the contact information of the audiences you’ve collected from my solo shows so that I can continue living my life with dignity and work towards a fair livelihood," the letter continued.
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