Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu is known for expressing her opinion fearlessly. Taapsee is one of those artists who has an opinion about political and social events. Now Taapsee has given her opinion on a controversy that took place in Paris Olympics 2024, for which she is being trolled on social media.
Taapsee has given her opinion on Algerian boxer Iman Khalifa who came into the news during the Olympics and the demand for a ban on her. While supporting Iman, Taapsee also mentioned her film ‘Rashmi Rocket’. But due to Taapsee’s statement, she has now become the target of trolls. Let us tell you what is the whole matter…
What did Taapsee say?
In an interview with ANI, Taapsee said, ‘I have done a film on this subject. I did a film called ‘Rashmi Rocket’. It was about a female athlete who was banned due to high testosterone levels. I played such a role and we expressed our opinion. The beauty of the films I get is that my films also talk about issues that I personally believe in, without making any statement about them outside.’
While talking about her character in ‘Rashmi Rocket’, Taapsee expressed her views on the issue of integrity. She further said, ‘It is not in my control how my hormones are. It is not that I have taken any supplements, it is not that I have taken any hormone injections, I was just born like this. Our point of view in the film was that there are many athletes who are born with a biological advantage over other athletes.’
After this, Taapsee took the names of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, who have won several Olympic medals, who have got an advantage in competition over other athletes because of their body structure. Taapsee said, ‘All these people are born with a biological advantage over others, so why are not all of them banned, why only those whose testosterone levels are high? If she (Iman) has taken injections or hormones for this competition, then it is illegal and she should be banned for this. But this is not the case, so this is something over which she has no control and you have banned her, whereas she has always lived like a girl. So I have played this character in the film.’
What was the controversy surrounding Iman Khalifa?
At the Paris Olympics, there was a lot of controversy over the gender of Algerian boxer Iman Khalifa, who won the gold medal in the 66 kg weight category of women’s boxing. A lot of misleading information about her also spread on the internet, after which people started demanding a ban on her.
In the match against Iman Khalifa, Italian boxer Angela Carini gave up in just 46 seconds and lost the match. Before giving up, Angela was badly injured in this fight and she gave up crying. After this, the issue of Iman’s gender came up in the news and on social media.
In the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championship, the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified Iman before her fight for the gold medal. The IBA president said in a statement that Iman’s ‘DNA test has XY chromosomes’. According to biology, women have XX chromosomes and men have XY. Therefore, she was born a ‘female’, grew up a ‘female’ and kept describing herself as a ‘female’ in all official information. There was a controversy over Iman’s gender.
After dropping the controversy, the IBA refused to disclose what tests they conducted and what their test methods were. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had suspended the IBA in 2019 itself and was managing the boxing events at the Paris Olympics on its own. And Iman was allowed to participate on the basis of following all the rules and guidelines. Later, the IOC issued a statement saying that they had received a letter from the IBA in June 2023 regarding the test of Iman’s XY chromosome. But ‘the concept of the test is so flawed that it is impossible to accept it.’
But after this entire controversy, the topic of Iman’s gender spread on social media in such a wrong way that the perception of Iman being a ‘transgender’ spread. Many people also fell prey to the wrong information that Iman has become a woman after sex change. People started debating that Iman should not be allowed to box in the ‘women’ category and she should be banned. A side was also formed of those people who came in support of Iman’s ‘gender identity’. Whereas the IOC had already refused to accept that test report, due to which there was a controversy over Iman’s gender.
Why is Taapsee being trolled?
After Taapsee’s statement went viral on social media, a user pointed out that Taapsee is talking about Iman’s ‘high testosterone level’. Whereas the matter is about ‘XY chromosome’ in Iman’s genes, not ‘testosterone level’.
Many users trolled Taapsee for the fact that her statement was deviating from the point of the whole matter. At the same time, many users started trolling her for comparing Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps with the Iman case, one user sarcastically said, ‘So now she has become Dr. Taapsee!’ Many users got so angry that they said that Taapsee is saying whatever she wants to promote her old film Rashmi Rocket. First understand the whole matter. What is the issue here? If you don’t know, then keep quiet.
Taapsee, one of the popular actresses of Bollywood, was recently seen in the Netflix film ‘Haseen Dilruba’. This is the sequel to her 2018 film ‘Haseen Dilruba’.