Actor Parvathy has slammed the ONV literary award jury for honouring Tamil songwriter and poet Vairamuthu who was recently surrounded by MeToo accusations. She said the move disrespects the memory of legendary poet ONV Kurup.
She tweeted, “ONV Sir is our pride. His contribution as a poet and lyricist is incomparable. How it has nourished our culture. Our hearts and minds have benefited through his body of work. This is exactly why it is immense disrespect to give such an honour in his name to the accused of sexual assault crimes.”
In her Instagram post, Parvathy wrote, “17 women have come out with their stories. We don’t know how many more have been wronged. There seems to be enough whataboutery to continue wronging those who are wronged. Only to uphold the reputation of those in power. Nothing is more important than humanity. If you come at me with the art vs artist debate, let me tell you that for me the humanity of the person creating the art is the only thing I’d choose to look at. I can live without the “art” of those who hollow out lives with absolute impunity,” Parvathy said in her Instagram post.
Vairamuthu faced a slew of allegations of sexually harassing multiple women in the wake of the MeToo movement in India. Singer and activist Chinmayi had publicly alleged that he made her feel uncomfortable on at least two occasions. She was even told “her career will be over” if she refuses to “cooperate” with him. Her story led to a series of allegations against Vairamuthu.
