Bigg Boss Tamil 7: Vanitha Vijaykumar claims assault by Pradeep fan
Vanitha’s daughter Jovika is among contestants who showed red card seeking co-contestant Pradeep Antony’s expulsion from reality show hosted by Kamal Haasan
The social media anger of the ‘fans’ of actor Pradeep Antony over his expulsion from the reality show Bigg Boss Tamil Season 7 has reached a shocking degree. Actor Vanitha Vijaykumar on Sunday (November 26) shared on Twitter (now X) a photo of her bruised face and said she was assaulted by a stranger last night.
“Brutally attacked by god knows who ! A so called #PradeepAntony supporter. Finished my #BiggBossTamil7 review and had dinner and walked down to my car i parked in my sister sowmyas house was dark and a man appeared from nowhere and said red card kudukreengala (‘did you give a red card?’)”. After the daily episode is aired at night, Vanitha reviews it for a YouTube channel.
Vanitha’s daughter Jovika Vijaykumar is also among the contestants in the show — hosted by actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan — who showed a red card seeking co-contestant Pradeep’s expulsion from the Bigg Boss house. The women in the show alleged that they felt unsafe around Pradeep, since he routinely threatened all the contestants, and made demeaning remarks to the female contestants.
'Women card' allegations
Pradeep was expelled from the Vijay TV show, but there was huge outrage on social media over the incident. The actor’s fans claimed the participants used the ‘women card’ to eliminate a highly competitive player from the show. A horde of Tamil Nadu celebrities also voiced support for Pradeep while not condemning the misogynistic remarks he made on live TV.
In fact, after the expulsion, contestants Maya S Krishnan and Poornima Ravi did express concern that they may be attacked by Pradeep’s fans once they leave the show.
The hatred and bullying on social media was so severe that Aishu, another contestant who was evicted two weeks back, said she contemplated suicide. In a social media post, she said reined in her suicidal thoughts only because she couldn’t bear to think how it would hurt her parents. She went on to apologise to Pradeep for ‘betraying’ him, but it was obvious that she was saying it more to shield herself and her family from the toxicity on social media.
This is not the first instance of the hatred linked to the show reaching disproportionate levels. The Federal wrote an extensive story earlier this month on all that is wrong with Bigg Boss Tamil across seven seasons. Read it here.