Singer calls Virat Kohli a ‘joker’, triggers fan backlash

Dubai: Virat Kohli has been trending on social media lately — and not for the best reasons. A recent Instagram “like” from the Indian cricket star caused a stir, prompting Delhi Police to jump in with a cheeky road safety campaign. But singer Rahul Vaidya has now escalated the drama by calling the former India captain a “joker”.

The Bigg Boss 14 contestant’s remark has sparked a fierce backlash from fans, with many targeting the 37-year-old and even his family members online.

‘Kohli’s fans are bigger jokers’

Instead of backing down, Vaidya doubled down with a provocative Instagram story: “Virat Kohli’s fans are even bigger jockers than Virat.” (Misspelling “jokers” in the post.)

In another post, he claimed that the trolling had turned personal, with fans abusing not just him, but also his wife and sister. “And now u r abusing me that’s fine but u r abusing my wife my sister.. who have nothing to do with this! So I was right that’s why you all Virat Kohli fans are jokers!” he wrote.

The post that started it all

The drama began when Kohli’s official Instagram account liked a post featuring influencer and actress Avneet Kaur. As the post went viral, Kohli issued a public clarification, attributing the incident to Instagram’s algorithm.

“While clearing my feed, it appears the algorithm may have mistakenly registered an interaction. There was absolutely no intent behind it. I request that no unnecessary assumptions be made,” Kohli wrote.

‘Algorithm did it’

Mocking Kohli’s explanation, Vaidya said: “After today, it is possible that the algorithm will write many photos which I have not written. So whoever girl is, please don’t do PR around it because it is not my mistake. It is Instagram’s mistake, OK?”

He also claimed that Kohli had blocked him — or perhaps, jokingly suggested, the algorithm did. “Virat didn’t block me, Instagram’s algorithm must have done it on his behalf,” Vaidya wrote, with a laughing emoji.

— With inputs from IANS