The Entertainment Journalists’ Guild of India have decided to boycott Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for intimidating a journalist at a recent event. The entertainment journalists’ body also said that they will ‘not give her any media coverage’ after she recently accused a PTI journalist Justin J Rao of running a smear campaign against her.
The incident had taken place at a function to launch a song event of movie Judgementall Hai Kya.
In their letter addressed to the film’s producer Ekta Kapoor, the Guild wrote, “Henceforth, we the members of Entertainment Journalists Guild of India (EJGI), demand a written public statement from you, Balaji Telefilms, and Mrs. Ranaut condemning the incident, in particular, Ms. Ranaut’s behaviour.”
The statement further added, “We are here to discuss if you can support our cause and how we can support your film Judgementall Hai Kya in return. You have always been supportive of righteous causes and we expect you to stand by us in this matter.
“We, as a Guild, have collectively decided to boycott Ms. Ranaut and not give her any media coverage.”
The Guild, however, said that the boycott of Kangana will not affect the coverage on Judgementall Hai Kya. It said, “Rest assured, we will not let this matter affect Judgementall Hai Kya in any manner and will be supportive of your film and other cast members, barring Ms. Ranaut,” the statement added.
The video of Kangana trying to intimidate Justin Rao by falsely accusing him of running a smear campaign had gone viral earlier this week. The journalist was widely hailed for demolishing Kangana’s lies publicly.