Actor
Siddharth, who had been facing a severe backlash over the past two days for his tweet criticizing
Saina Nehwal a few days ago. While the actor has been said to have made a ‘subtle’ usage of sexual innuendo in his tweet to the country's badminton champion, he has now issued an apology for his ‘rude joke’ against badminton player Saina Nehwal.
In an letter apologizing to Saina Nehwal, Siddharth said, "Dear Saina, I want to apologise to you for my rude joke that i wrote as a response to a tweet of yours, a few days ago. I may disagree with you on many things but even my disappointment or anger when I read your tweet, cannot justify my tone and words. I know I have more grace in me than that. As for the joke.. If a joke needs to be explained, then it wasn't a very good joke to begin with, Sorry about a joke that didn't land."
"I, however must insist my word play and humour had none of the malicious intent that so many people from all quarters have attributed to it. I am a staunch feminist ally and I assure you there was no gender implied in my tweet and certainly no intent to attack you as a woman. I hope we can put this behind and that you will accept my letter. You will always be my Champion," he added.
Last week, Saina Nehwal took to Twitter to share her thoughts on the security breach of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. She wrote, "No Nation can claim itself to be safe if the security of its own PM gets compromised. I condemn, in the strongest words possible, the cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists (sic)."
Siddharth quoted Saina's tweet and wrote, "Subtle cock champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India. Shame on you #Rihanna (sic)."
After receiving widespread criticism for his remarks, the 'Aranmanai 2' actor has now issued an apology, but has also explained his that his "word play" had "none of the malicious intent" that was attributed to it.