Amitabh Bachchan Faces Backlash Over ‘Sexist’ Remark On Economist Gita Gopinath

Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan made a comment on Gita Gopinath after asking a Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) contestant a question on the Chief Economist of International Monetary Fund. Little did the Bollywood legend think that his remark would lead to a storm on social media.

“The economist seen in this image has been the chief economist of which organisation since 2019,” Bachchan asked, before saying, “Her face is so beautiful that nobody would associate her with economy.”

Gopinath herself was amused and impressed. “Ok, I don’t think I will ever get over this. As a HUGE fan of Big B @SrBachchan, the Greatest of All Time, this is special!” she tweeted.

But several netizens interpreted Big B’s remark as ‘sexist’ and attacked him, The Week reported.

Here are some of the tweets that Bachchan faced:

Don’t you think he was being sexist here? Etna khubsurat face or economy!!! What does that mean?

— RIP_My_Emotions?? (@beautifulgirly0) January 22, 2021

So sad that he just had to mention your looks while pointing to your earned achievement. Bet you he wouldn’t have made a mention if, say, @raghuramrajan or @kaushikcbasu were on the screen. Anyway, congratulations to you @GitaGopinath : keep the flag flying high!

— Jaideep Mehta (@jaideep400) January 22, 2021

I didn’t like the comment about linking beauty with brains. Stupid of Mr. Bachchan to suggest that beautiful women can’t be economists.

— Namita Gidwani (@namita_gidwani) January 22, 2021