Racist Bollywood Song About Beyoncé Being Jealous of ‘Fair Skin’ Sparks Outrage

September 11, 2020

A Bollywood film’s song about Beyoncé has earned the ire of many online for its racist and sexist lyrics.

Eyebrow raising lyrics: The song titled “Beyoncé Sharma Jayegi,” received criticisms for its lyrics which included a line that translates to, “Beyonce will feel insecure after seeing you, fair-skinned lady.”

The song was performed by Indian actors Ananya Panday and Ishaan Khatter who played the leads in the movie.
Indian musical duo Vishal-Shekhar composed the track for the upcoming Bollywood film “Khali Peeli.”
Vishal Dadlani, one of the writers of the song, came out in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement just a few months ago.
A video of the song was uploaded to YouTube on Sunday and has so far generated nearly 10 million views as of this writing.
The song has over 840,000 dislikes compared to only 88,000 likes on the video-sharing site.
The song also made sexist references toward women about being “gaudy” and having “lots of tantrums.”

Courting controversy: The song has since angered social media users, with many questioning how the song was released in the first place.

View post on X

One Twitter user pointed out the glorification of light skin, with companies selling skin-whitening products becoming the center of sharp criticism in the past.
“This is just blatantly ignoring the fact how they’re glorifying fair skin (yet again) and then comparing it to Beyoncé (a black woman). This is RACIST,” the user wrote.
“These Bollywood Industry now is literally out of sense. Think twice before saying something. Where @Beyonce is fighting for the racism and making it normalized and these videos lyrics saying (Beyoncé Sharma jayegi) such a stupidest meaning of song ever heard,” another user wrote.

Apologies for Queen Bey: Beyoncé, who is known for promoting body positivity, has featured South Asian women in her music videos multiple times in the past, such as her song “BROWN SKIN GIRL.”

The American singer has an active fanbase in India where many expressed their apologies to her for the song.
“Oh Dear! #BeyonceSharmaJayegi Might be the worse thing I’ve seen ever! 🤮 I’d like to apologize to @Beyonce for this racist sexist hot mess. #BLM #mondaythoughts,” TV personality Andy Kumar tweeted.
Zee Music, the record company behind the song, has yet to address the backlash online.

Feature Image (left) via Zee Music Company, (right) Tidal

Share this Article