Music director Anu Malik has been dropped as the judge of “Indian Idol Season 10” after being accused of sexual harassment by singers Sona Mohapatra and Shweta Pandit.
The two accomplished singers have used their Twitter accounts to share their #MeToo moment with this veteran music producer while addressing him as a “pedophile” and a “sexual predator.”
The sexual misconduct accusation has cost Malik his association with “Indian Idol,” in which he has been the oldest judge ever in the history of this reality show.
One of the officials of Sony Entertainment Television yesterday released an official statement which said: “Anu Malik is no longer a part of the ‘Indian Idol’ jury panel. The show will continue its planned schedule and we will invite some of the biggest names in Indian music as guests to join Vishal Dadlani and Neha Kakkar to judge the extraordinary talent of Indian Idol season 10.”
However, Malik denied all the allegations against him. His lawyer Zulfiqar Memon stated: “The allegations made against my client are emphatically denied as completely false and baseless. My client respects the #MeToo movement, but to use this movement to start a character assassination mission is obnoxious.”
In the wake of #MeToo movement in India, many celebrities have come forward to name and shame some of the big guns of the industry including Nana Patekar, Alok Nath, Rajat Kapoor, Sajid Khan, Kailash Kher, Vikas Bahl and many more.
