Raghav Juyal, the host of ‘Dance Deewane 3’, has found himself in the midst of controversy by making purported racist comments against a participant from Assam. This has sparked outrage online with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma calling it a “shameful” incident and asserting that racism has no place in the country.

In a video clip that has gone viral, ‘Dance Deewane’ show host Juyal was seen introducing a child participant from Guwahati in a “Chinese” gibberish, using words like ‘momo’ and ‘chowmein’.

Interestingly, the judges of the show, including actor Madhuri Dixit and choreographer Remo D’Souza, along with the audience were having a hearty laugh.

It’s 2021, but the #racist Indians still practicing “Chinese” “momo” “ching chong” #racism as a comic element on their national television with their #bollywood celebs applauding it. The racist host @TheRaghav_Juyal introducing Gunjan Sinha from Assam in a show on @ColorsTV pic.twitter.com/qcPsgiWfXg

— C. Thounaojam (@manaobi101) November 15, 2021

Following this, Juyal later shared another video on Twitter where the participant, Gunjan Sinha from Guwahati, Assam, was seen telling Dixit that she likes to speak Chinese and then the host shares some light moments with the participant by conversing with her in the gibberish.

“This is what happened actually,” Juyal said in the post.

Giving details of his actions, Juyal said that the child had told the creatives that it was her ‘talent’ that she can speak  Chinese, which was largely gibberish. “Towards the end of the show, I decided to speak in a similar way to introduce her in one of the episodes. It has been an inside joke on the show and one shouldn’t judge us with just that clip,” he shared.

He also said that it is important to understand the situation as being called a racist is affecting his mental health. Sharing that he has family and friends in the North-East, Raghav said that he not only respects people from the region but has also stood up for them.

(With agency inputs)