Saina Nehwal gets an apology from actor Siddharth for his 'rude joke'

All hell had broken loose after actor Siddharth took to Twitter to call out former World No. 1 badminton champion Saina Nehwal for her tweet regarding the protection of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. The actor from down South, Siddharth used the phrase 'subtle cock champion of the world' in his retweet of Saina Nehwal's post that saw a big backlash coming from the 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist and her husband, Parupalli Kashyap immediately. However, the actor has now finally apologized publicly to Saina Nehwal in another tweet and admitted to the joke being 'rude'.

Saina said she is glad that he acknowledged that. "He only said it and he is now apologising. I was surprised to see myself trending on Twitter that day. I haven't spoken to him but I am happy that he apologised," she said on the sidelines of the ongoing India Open. "See, it is about women, he shouldn't target a woman like that but it's okay, I am not bothered about it, I am happy in my space and god bless him," she added.

In context, Saina Nehwal had tweeted about the 'security threat' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab's Ferozepur on January 5. Some protesters blocked a route and forced Modi's convoy to spend about 15-20 minutes on a flyover. This resulted in a huge row on social media. Reacting to that, Saina wrote, "No Nation can claim itself to be safe if the security of its own PM gets compromised. I condemn, in the strongest words possible, the cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists (sic)".

Aside from Saina Nehwal taking offense, The National Commission for Women (NCW) also issued a notice to the Rang De Basanti actor in lieu of the matter coming to their eyes as Siddharth's tweet carried disrespectful, demeaning language. Siddharth did try to defend his tweet of his and posted: "'COCK & BULL' That's the reference. Reading otherwise is unfair and leading! Nothing disrespectful was intended, said or insinuated. Period (sic)." However, that did not really help matters and therefore the actor has issued a formal apology letter to Saina Nehwal now.

Declaring that his 'word play and humour had no malicious intent', Siddharth went on to sincerely apologize in the letter, going forward as much as to say that Saina will always be his Champion. Further, Siddharth also claimed himself to be a 'feminist ally' and clarified that he had 'no intention to attack you as a woman' in his tweet.