Several people are questioning how Bollywood celebrities who have endorsed skin lightening creams can also support the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Huff Post reports among those celebrities are Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor and Disha Patani who starred with Jackie Chan in the film Kung Fu Yoga.
Among those to speak out was Hasan Minhaj of Netflix’ Patriot Act.
“You know what we call black people? We call them kaala, which means Black but not in a good way. If someone is dark-skinned in your family, we clown them. We call them kallu… Our Bollywood film stars do skin whitening commercials so we don’t look Black,” he said.
According to AlJazeera, the skin lightening industry is a multi-billion dollar industry in India. Darker skinned Indians are given the message that lighter skin is a better version of themselves.
The digital publication also reported some Bollywood stars are being criticized for speaking out on racism in America, but not in India.
Some accused them of “cowardice” for staying silent about attacks on Muslims while protesting the killing of Floyd.
The Huff Post reports Chopra invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to her wedding despite doing little to stop violence against Muslims.
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