No malice intended, posted Olympics selfie tweet because I'm a frustrated athlete, says Shobhaa De
Columnist Shobaa De has finally spoken about her now-controversial series of tweets against the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics.
On 8 August, De had tweeted:
Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Rio jao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) August 8, 2016
Her tweet garnered massive outrage on social media. A number of celebrities - including Amitabh Bachchan, Virendra Sehwag, Abhinav Bindra, Jwaala Gutta - lashed out at the columnist for her post.
De recently toldNDTV that she had been "punished for it, shamed for it, trolled for it".
"I didn't curse, I didn't abuse but I was at the receiving end of a lot of that," she said, defending her right to say whatever she wants.
Interestingly, De also said that she was an athlete herself. "There was no malice intended," she said, adding, "I said it out of a sense of panic, being an athlete myself it was said out of deep frustration," she told the channel.
The columnist, who gave the interview following Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu's wins at the Olympics, said that she was "delighted to have been proved wrong".
First published: 21 August 2016, 12:04 IST
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