Controversial actress Poonam Pandey faced online backlash after admitting to faking her death on Instagram as part of a cervical cancer awareness campaign. Initially, a statement on her social media claimed she had “bravely fought the disease” and passed away, but the revelation of the fake announcement drew criticism online, with accusations of it being a deceptive stunt.
However, on Saturday, Poonam revealed it was a fake story to raise awareness about cervical cancer. She shared a video saying she is alive and aims to highlight the importance of screenings and early detection.
In the video, she said, “I feel compelled to share something significant with you all – I am here, alive.”
“Cervical cancer didn’t claim me, but tragically, it has claimed the lives of thousands of women who stemmed from a lack of knowledge on how to tackle this disease… Together, let’s strive to put an end to the devastating impact of the disease and bring,” she added and revealed her publicity stunt.
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Bollywood Celebrities Who Took Stand Against Poonam Pandey’s Fake Death Controversy
Several prominent figures, including Vivek Agnihotri, Ekta Kapoor, and Kangana Ranaut, criticized actor-model Poonam Pandey for returning to social media a day after her team announced her death from cervical cancer.
Bollywood actress and producer Pooja Bhatt also reacted to the fake news of Poonam Pandey’s death by deleting her earlier tweet about the model-actor. Pooja explained why she chose to delete her tweet about Poonam Pandey and wrote, “I never delete tweets but did so in the case where I expressed my shock at news of Poonam Pandey’s demise due to cervical cancer. Why? Turns out the news was engineered by a digital/PR team. Absolute disgrace & disservice to those battling the same-her included.”
Check out her Tweet:
I never delete tweets but did so in the case where I expressed my shock at news of Poonam Pandey’s demise due to cervical cancer. Why? Turns out the news was engineered by a digital/PR team. Absolute disgrace & disservice to those battling the same-her included. 🙏
— Pooja Bhatt (@PoojaB1972) February 3, 2024
Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri also took to his social media and slammed the actress for her publicity stunt. He wrote: “With the emerging challenges of SM, I think there should be some regulations, specially, for the newsmakers and those who call themselves influencers. Normalising sensationalism and gimmicks is dangerous. Fake death news is just the beginning. Aage aage dekho hota hai kya (just wait and watch).”
He added: “Actually, it was a marketing campaign. Watch the end and the logo on right upper corner. How sinister, how pathetic.”
Check out the Tweet:
Actually, it was a marketing campaign for @thehauterrfly. Watch the end and the logo on right upper corner.
How sinister, how pathetic. pic.twitter.com/16aoUJNuq1— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) February 3, 2024
Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu said, “Beyond pathetic behaviour. The PR people behind this should be ashamed too… not just this person.”
Producer Ekta Kapoor also took a stand against Poonam and wrote: “This is awareness of which vaccine not to use !!! The company that encouraged such an insensitive campaign !!!! This company shud b sued”
A part of Mini Mathur’s post that she shared on her Instagram Stories read, “This Poonam Pandey cervial cancer stunt is not just distasteful, tone deaf and insensitive… it also bases itself on zero research on the subject. Not to take away from the lack of awareness around it but a mere Google search will tell you that there are 8 stages to cervical cancer and an average of 5-10 year gestation period for it to reach its advanced stage.”
Saisha Shinde not just slammed the controversial actress but also blocked her from everywhere. She wrote, “Totally disgusted! I called you my friend! You don’t deserve to be my friend! You called this awareness? Shut the f*** up! My mom has had a double mastectomy and she has battled cancer! My sister has had a kidney failure and she’s passed away, my aunt died of mental illness and unlike you they can never come back! Death is not a joke! Death is not a publicity stunt! It’s an actual non quantifiable fact! Shame on you @poonampandeyreal you played with our emotions! And I will never forgive you for this ! Never! What has the world come to? Who are these people?”
Television actor and host Karan Kundrra, who worked with Poonam Pandey in the reality show “Lock Upp” also took to his X (formerly Twitter) and slammed the actress and her PR team. He wrote:
“Wahh didi wahhhhh.. aur wahhh tumhari PR agency.. jo bhi phook rahe ho tum log immediately bandh kar do!!! You’ve royally managed to turn a social cause into a laughing matter! Sometimes bad publicity is actually bad publicity..!”
Check out his Tweet:
Wahh didi wahhhhh.. aur wahhh tumhari PR agency.. jo bhi phook rahe ho tum log immediately bandh kar do!!! You’ve royally managed to turn a social cause into a laughing matter! Sometimes bad publicity is actually bad publicity..!
— Karan Kundrra (@kkundrra) February 3, 2024
