Full Episode: Why Samay Raina Got In Trouble For India's Got Latent

Stand-up comedian Samay Raina faced major controversy in 2025 after a remark made by podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia during an episode of his YouTube comedy show India's Got Latent. The episode triggered widespread outrage, FIRs were filed, and the show was eventually shut down.

Samay has now spoken at length about the episode in a stand-up special titled Still Alive, uploaded on his YouTube channel. In the 1.21 hour clip, the comedian addressed the entire sequence of events, the backlash, legal pressure, criticism from the industry, and the impact on his mental health and career.

On Ranveer Allahbadia And The Episode

Samay came under heavy criticism after Ranveer made a controversial comment about parents and sex during an episode of Raina's YouTube comedy show India's Got Latent. The clip quickly went viral on social media and triggered widespread outrage.

Mentioning Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, Samay said, "Mera poora mental health kharab kardi usne, usko toh meditation bhi aata hai, kuch bhi nahi aata mujhe toh" (He completely ruined my mental health. He knows meditation; I don't know anything at all.)

Distancing himself from the controversial remarks, the comedian jokingly called Ranveer Allahbadia "the monk who sold my Ferrari." "I didn't even say anything in that episode. I was sitting quietly in the corner. Hum Kashmiri crossfire mein hi marte hain (We Kashmiris die in crossfire anyway)... Hell broke loose..."

Samay said the criticism came from all quarters. From politicians and celebrities to comedian Sunil Pal, he said that everyone came after the show.

He recalled, "Sunil Pal said, 'Learn from Kapil Sharma'. Kapil Sharma was supposed to come on our next episode. All the irrelevant people trying to get some limelight by kicking the f***ing dead at that time."

He further said, "B Praak agaya beech mein. Kaun bulaya tujhe bhai?" (B Praak came in between. Who even called you, brother?)

Referring to Mukesh Khanna, known for portraying Shaktimaan, Samay said, "Shaktimaan agaya tha uss time. Shaktimaan se kaise ladenge bhai. He said baccho ka kaisa hoga aise content dekhke." (Shaktimaan came in at that time. How do we fight Shaktimaan? He said what will happen to children watching such content.)

He added, "Shaktimaan has killed children 'fak-fak-fak karke'. How are you taking the moral high ground?"

Samay also said, "Uss time sab agaye the. For what? For a f***ing joke. Everybody makes mistakes. Maine kari, maine ekbar abortion mein joke kara tha.... I am sorry. I was just naive. Ladkiyan naraz hogayi." (Everyone showed up at that time. For what? For a f***ing joke. Everybody makes mistakes. I did too. I once made a joke on abortion... I am sorry. I was just naive. Women got upset.)

Shedding light on the disproportionate response, Samay said, "Ye thodi hota hai kharab joke mara aur military agayi." (It's not like you make a bad joke and the army shows up.)

On BeerBiceps And Having A Certain 'Image'

Samay said the backlash against Ranveer Allahbadia was unfair.

"It was so unfair what was happening to BeerBiceps. Usne joke hi aisa mara na main khud hi defend nahi kar paya apne ghar pe." (He cracked such a joke that even I couldn't defend it at home.)

He added, "BeerBiceps apne image banayi yoga and spirituality se. Usne character break kar diya." (BeerBiceps built his image with yoga and spirituality. He broke character.)

Talking about online persona, Samay said, "You see a part of us, agar reveal kare poora toh din mein 3 FIRs." (If we reveal everything, there would be three FIRs in a single day.)

He added, "In India, Internet is a game we play to set a high score in our bank accounts. Main jo karraha hoon Internet pe, woh bhi natak hi kar raha hoon." (In India, the Internet is a game to set a high score in our bank accounts. What I do on the Internet is also an act.)

KBC Reference

Citing an example from Kaun Banega Crorepati, Samay said he consciously avoided cracking a controversial joke on the popular quiz show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. Samay went on KBC as a guest contestant along with fellow comic Tanmay Bhat, who has also had his fair share of controversies.

"Jaise main gaya tha KBC. Mere dimag mein nahi aaya tha ki sir aapne itna polio ka ad kiya fir bhi aapne bete ko paon mein kyun nahi khada kar paye aap sir." (When I went to KBC, it didn't occur to me to say - sir, you did so many polio ads, yet why couldn't your son stand on his feet?)

He added, "Ye nahi kiya na maine wahan pe. Wahan maine bola ki meri dadi aapki bohot badi fan hai. Dadi meri marr gayi 7 saal pehle." (I didn't say that. I said my grandmother is a big fan. She died seven years ago.)

He said, "It was all a game. You are not honest on the Indian Internet. You can not be yourself. You play the game, you play the room."

Legal Pressure And Deleting The Entire Show From YouTube

Talking about the aftermath and Ranveer's comment, Samay said, "Non-veg log veg kha sakta, veg log non-veg khayega toh ulti hi karega. Bohot mahengi ulti padh gayi uske. Raaton-raat show hatana padha."

(A non-vegetarian can eat vegetarian food, but a vegetarian will vomit if he eats non-veg. That turned out to be a very expensive vomit. The show had to be taken down overnight.)

He continued, "Main kis tarah woh show delete kiya mujhe hi pata hai. It broke me. Main US mein tha, mujhe police ka call aya ki aapko sare episodes hatane padenge."

Samay said his editor was arrested and that the police were closely monitoring his content. He added, "I was like isse pehle ye log Rakhi Sawant episode dekhe main hi hata deta hoon. Rakhi Sawant episode dekh lete na ye log toh desh se hi nikal dete." (Before they watch the Rakhi Sawant episode, I'll remove it myself. If they had watched it, they would have thrown us out of the country.)

He also quipped, "Uss time Pakistan se support aa raha tha mujhe. Woh keh rahe the aap hamare yahan show chalu karo Samay bhai." (At that time, I was getting support from Pakistan. They were asking me to start the show there.)

Referring to the controversial question that sparked the backlash, Samay said, "Uss episode mein BeerBiceps ne woh sawal 8 baar poocha tha, aur iske ilawa bhi kaafi ant-shant sawal pooche the. Ab jab maine edit dekha na, maine socha ye. Mere POV se maine toh 99 per cent keetanu maar diye the. Mujhe thodi pata tha woh 1 per cent se hi band bajega. (In that episode, BeerBiceps asked that question eight times and also asked many other random questions. When I saw the edit later, I felt I had removed 99 per cent of the harmful stuff from my point of view. I didn't know that the remaining 1 per cent would be enough to cause such chaos.)"

Samay said Tanmay Bhat encouraged him to reach out to influential contacts for help.

He recalled, "Maine Tanmay Bhat ka missed call dekha. He asked to get in touch with ministers. He said koi contact hai, I said hai na BeerBiceps. Rakhi Sawant mere liye lad rahi thi. Bolta hai na, bura waqt jab aata hai tab pata chalta hai asli dost kaun hai. (I saw a missed call from Tanmay Bhat. He told me to get in touch with ministers. He asked if I had any contacts, and I said BeerBiceps is there. Rakhi Sawant was fighting for me. They say you find out who your real friends are when bad times come.)"

Samay also said he reached out to the head of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) for help. He said the person was in Singapore at the time and asked him to explain the entire situation.

Samay added, "Usne bola joke bhejo. I was like, 'Ye joke inko bhej diya toh Amitabh Bachchan ka hi call aa jaayega.'" (He asked me to send the joke. I said, if I send this joke, Amitabh Bachchan himself will call.)

Mental Health, Anxiety And Financial Fear

Samay said he never wanted the controversy to reach this scale. "Main toh kabhi nahi chahta tha ki itna controversy ho. Kabhi toh sochta hoon kash dala hi nahi hota ye episode." (I never wanted it to become such a big controversy. Sometimes I wish I had never uploaded the episode.)

He added, "Kitna badhiya life chal rahi thi meri January tak. Har video dal raha hoon, 5 crore, 6 crore views. Maza aa raha tha." Speaking about his US tour, he said, "Usi time I decided to go abroad and apne life ka sabse bade US show karunga. All 15,000 tickets were sold very quickly. I was ready. Arenas book kar diye, stadium book kar diye. (My life was going so well until January. Every video I uploaded was getting 50 to 60 million views. I was really enjoying it. At the same time, I decided to go abroad and do the biggest US show of my life. All 15,000 tickets were sold very quickly. I was ready. Arenas were booked, stadiums were booked.)"

Referring to the financial risk, he said, "Agar shows cancel karke India aana padha toh kitna loss hoga - 8 crore rupees. Us time I swear to God, mere paas jitna savings tha woh bhi 8 crore rupees." (If I had to cancel the shows and return to India, the loss would have been Rs 8 crore. At that time, I swear to God, my total savings were also Rs 8 crore.”)

Describing his anxiety, Samay said, "Meri fatke char ho gayi... I was like oh f***. There is a possibility itne saal mein jo bhi main kamaya that will go to sh*t." (I completely panicked… I was like, oh f***. There was a possibility that everything I had earned over the years would go to sh*t.)

 He added, "Mereko itni anxiety ho gayi... backstage main kaanp raha hoon, mera dil dhadak raha hai, pasina ho raha hai, saans atak raha hai." (“I had so much anxiety… I was shaking backstage, my heart was racing, I was sweating and my breath felt stuck.”)

Samay said his friend Balraj Ghai, who is the owner of Habitat where India's Got Latent was shot, was with him in the US when he got calls from police. The comic joked that Balraj said he was unable to console him properly and "literally ChatGPT-ed" a cliche line, "This too shall pass."

Describing his emotional breaking point, Samay said he was deeply affected after watching a video sent by his friend Balraj's wife.

He said in teary eyes, "Maine ek video dekhi jo Balraj ki wife ne bheji thi aur woh dekhke main bilkul toot gaya. That was the last nail in the coffin. Habitat mein Balraj ke maa-baap gaye the. Woh apne seventies mein hain. Unki koi galti nahi thi, woh sirf woh comedy club chalate hain jahan hum shoot karte the. (I saw a video sent by Balraj's wife and it completely broke me. That was the last nail in the coffin. Balraj's parents went to Habitat. They are in their seventies. They had done nothing wrong; they just run the comedy club where we shoot.)"

He added, "Andar woh jawaan-jawaan police walon ke pairo mein gire hue the ki sir please humein jaane do, humne kuch nahi kiya. Main completely toot gaya. Main bas ro raha tha. Maine Balraj ko jagaya. Dono bas pareshan the ki ab kya karein. (Inside, they were literally falling at the feet of young police officers, pleading that they had done nothing wrong. I completely broke down. I was just crying. I woke Balraj up. We were both helpless about what to do.)"

Parents and Emotional Toll

Samay then described receiving a video call from his mother at that moment.

He said, "Iss moment meri maa ka video call aa gaya. Kya dikhaun maa ko ki main ro raha hoon? She is the most innocent soul I have met. (At that moment, my mother video-called me. What do I show her - that I am crying? She is the most innocent soul I have ever met.)"

He added, "Main jab KBC mein gaya tha, unko broadcast message karna nahi aata. She sent individually sabko ki mere beta KBC mein aa raha hai. (When I went to KBC, she didn't know how to send broadcast messages, so she sent individual messages to everyone saying my son is coming on KBC.)"

He later said, while elaborating on his mental health struggles, "Mujhe lagne lag gaya yeh sab sapne hai. Ye real world nahi hai. It's the worst state to be in. It's called psychosis. I got so scared."

Samay said Assam Police asked him to apologise. He recalled George Orwell's quote, "Every joke is entirely revolutionary and the revolution must never stop," but added, "Yahan sorry bolna hi safe rehta. (Here, saying sorry is the safest option.)"

He said, "You only fight when a fight is fair and you've a chance of winning. When it's not fair, you f*** off from there. Kashmiri Pandit wisdom."

Talking about his parents, Samay said, "My mom and dad got married in Kashmir. Early 90s. Mere papa uss time media mein bohot achche post pe the. Rs 15,000 kamate the... DD Kashmir channel tha. He was a very respected person."

Speaking about his family's past, he further said, "Then wahan pe militancy hui, you know what happened. Then we had to leave the valley. 1991 pe papa left Kashmir and went to Delhi par unko mann nahi laga. They went back in 1996 and in 1997 I was born and 1998 pe hamare ghar pe goli chali and raaton raat he had to leave for his family, for us. He left and search of a job he landed in Hyderabad."  (Militancy happened there... in 1998, bullets were fired at our house and we had to leave overnight.)

Towards the end, he said, "Hum 5 per cent the Kashmir mein Pandits. Agar haatiyar utha leta na mere maa baap mein ki ladenge hamari matribhoomi ke liye toh sab marr gaye hote. Aaj hamari bravery pe videos bante honge, phir Akshay Kumar banta koi Kashmiri Pandit." ("We were just five per cent of Kashmir's population - the Pandits. If my parents had taken up weapons to fight for our motherland, we would all have died. Today, videos would have been made praising our bravery, and then Akshay Kumar would have played a Kashmiri Pandit.")

He added, "I am so glad all the Kashmiri Pandits fled the Valley overnight. Today we are all alive. Sometimes, it is about survival."

On the Controversy And Show Revival

Talking about the episode, Samay said, "This whole incident was the most insane and probably the most important one. I am so glad it happened."

He then announced the revival of India's Got Latent and said that the show would return. At first, he said it could not end on a higher note, before adding, "Let me rephrase - isse high point pe mere show ka season 1 end ho sakta tha." ("Let me rephrase - my show's Season 1 could not have ended on a higher point than this.")

Samay announced that he will bring back India's Got Latent for another run, but will take away the audiences' phones.

"Show toh main launga bhai kyunki maza aata tha woh show karne mein. Ab main jab tak hoon iss duniya mein bas maze karne hain. (I will definitely bring the show back, brother, because I enjoyed doing that show. As long as I'm alive in this world, I just want to have fun.) I will do a wild, wild show." Samay concluded. 

Also Read: 'Kashmiri Crossfire Mein Hi Marte Hain': Samay Raina Trolls India's Got Latent Backlash