Life
Masaba Gupta Lashes Out Against Trolls, Calls Herself Proud Indo-Caribbean Girl
Designer Masaba Gupta during the launch of a flavored water in New Delhi on July 25, 2017.
IANS
Masaba Gupta fends off online abuse targeting her Indo-Caribbean heritage.
When fashion designer Masaba Gupta applauded the Supreme Court’s move to ban firecrackers during Diwali, little did she know that she would be swarmed by people trolling on her “illegitimate” birth.
After she was attacked by people online, who called her an “illegitimate child” of Indian actress Neena Gupta and West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards, Gupta took to Instagram to respond to them, saying she is a proud “Indo-Caribbean”.
Her strongly-worded post stated: “By calling me names like ‘bas***d child’ or ‘illegitimate west Indian’ it only makes my chest swell with pride. I’m the illegitimate product of two of the MOST legitimate personalities you’ll find & I’ve made the best life, both personally and professionally… out of which I’m proud of.”
She added: “My legitimacy comes from the work I do & what my contribution to society has been. And you can try but you will not be able to raise a single finger on the either of the two.”
She ended the post with: “I am a proud Indo-Caribbean girl who doesn’t know how to shrink & crumble in shame of something you or your society cannot handle. It’s just in my ‘illegitimate’ genes”.
Gupta received support from several people, including celebrities. Author Chetan Bhagat rushed to her defense after she posted her reaction, saying, “You are amazing, one of the truly most inspiring people I have met. learn from me. don’t let ’em trolls get to you. you r bigger than that!”.
Former actress Soni Razdan wrote, “You tell ’em Masaba ! And there is no such thing as ‘illegitimacy’. If you exist you are ‘legitimate’. Nature has seen to that. ”
The incident occurred after Gupta retweeted a post by journalist Nidhi Razdan, which had the news about the ban on firecrackers, saying “Yes!”.
— Masaba Mantena (@MasabaG) October 9, 2017
Gupta, 28, grew up in Mumbai with her mother Neena Gupta. In an earlier interview with Firstpost, she had commented on the nature of her familial relationships: “I have deep respect and love for both my parents. They are both their own kind of people, successful and yet not running with the herd. Through the time when I was between 8 till I turned 14, I remember my holidays with my Father. He was very active in commentary then, travelling the world, and he would come to India quite often. I never really stayed with him, but Mom and I would go for holidays with him.”
