Mumbai, Nov 11 (IANS) Actor Manish Goel’s son Aryaveer has come out in support of his father amid the ongoing controversy involving his ‘Bigg Boss 20’ co-contestant Qazi Touqeer.

The young boy lashed out at Qazi for his “crossed a line” remark on Manish and his allegations in the pretext of a prank and said that the episode has been deeply hurtful for their family.

Aryaveer shared a series of stories on his social media account reacting to the controversy after Manish broke down following Qazi’s comments about their interaction during a playful role-play activity inside the ‘Bigg Boss 20’ house.

In his first post, Aryaveer wrote, “Thank you to all the contestants who took a stand.

And to the Qazi fans, I am NOT scared of any of you. The blindness and toxicity is honestly unbelievable. I have always supported my father's friendship with Qazi and their masti. But what happened yesterday crossed a line. Qazi was the one who pounced on my father first, made strange gestures and provoked him. My dad played along too, and nobody had a problem then. It was all fun and games until he decided to pull a prank by making an accusation as serious as inappropriate touching. Are you fucking serious? Do you understand the gravity of such allegations?”

He added, “I KNOW MY FATHER. One person's narrative doesn't make it the truth. Even the people inside that house know Qazi overdid it. Please stop blindly following someone and start using your own judgement. And to those saying my dad is playing the wife-and-kid card, maybe question why you've become so accustomed to fake faces and manufactured emotions on Bigg Boss that you cannot recognise a genuinely good, mature man when you see one.”

“You can dislike his game, disagree with him or criticise him. But you will NOT get away with disrespecting his character. I love you, Papa. I know the man you are, and I will ALWAYS stand by you. No matter what.”

Aryaveer then shared another post clarifying the context of his earlier remarks and explaining why he had spoken out.

“Since some people are making an issue out of my story, let me clarify what I meant by “explains it all. This was one of many comments my family and I received, and it was an outright death threat, which is why I addressed it. I later realised that I cannot respond to or defend against everyone saying such things.”

“Unfortunately, some chose to turn this into an issue about another country, which was never my intention. I only noticed the language used and the threat given, not anything beyond that. Nothing against any country or its people, and no intention of hurting anyone’s sentiments. I won’t be speaking further on this. Sorry I couldn’t articulate it properly, I am also overwhelmed, please understand.”

The post came after a fun activity in which Qazi was seen portraying a female character and dressed like one in a lehenga choli and Manish participated in the playful interaction. Qazi later accused Manish of touching him inappropriately during the act and said that the interaction made him uncomfortable.

The incident escalated when Qazi reportedly compared the alleged behaviour to the kind of conduct associated with eve-teasers and hooligans who harass women on the road. Manish, who was in the nomination room, became emotional and broke down while defending himself.

Manish repeatedly spoke about his wife, daughter, sister, mother and his female co-stars, stressing that he has always respected women. He also referred to actor Juhi Parmar, with whom he had worked for many years, saying he knew that she had always felt safe around him.

Initially, all the housemates who had treated the interaction as a joke and played along with Qazi, after his comments escalated, came forward to support Manish. The women in the house also said that they felt completely safe around Manish and vouched for his character.

Manish denied having any inappropriate intention and maintained that the interaction had been part of the joke.

–IANS

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