Summary of this article
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Supriya Ganesh have clapped back at a viral post targeting Tamil-origin actors.
The controversy sparked following a post on X (formerly Twitter) featuring actresses Supriya, Maitreyi, Charithra Chandran, and Shabana Azeez.
The post described their appearance as the "kamwali bai phenotype".
Indian actors facing racism in the West is not new. Earlier, actors like Priyanka Chopra, Ali Fazal and Indian origin, Freida Pinto opened up about experiencing racism during their careers in Hollywood. Now, Tamil-origin Hollywood actors Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Supriya Ganesh, Charithra Chandran, and Shabana Azeez have faced racist remarks on social media.
The controversy sparked following a viral post on X (formerly Twitter) featuring actresses Supriya, Maitreyi, Charithra, and Shabana. The post described their appearance as the "kamwali bai phenotype" (maid phenotype), causing outrage on social media.
South Asian actresses face racist comment
"I hate Indian representation in Hollywood, they find the most chopped looking female they can and then make her the face of Indian representation (sic)," read the post.
The use of the term "kamwali bai" is condemned as both classist and colorist.
One user commented, "This is what most Indians look like, you racist casteist pile of trash." "You're just mad that regular Indian faces get represented in international movies! You're proving the Whites right!," wrote another.
"You’re just a colorist. They’re beautiful even if they’re not whitewashed," slammed one X user.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Supriya Ganesh react to maid phenotype post
The Pitt actress Supriya Ganesh, responding to the post wrote, "Hey so this is supremely f***** up and I truly hope you deal with your self-hate. Colorist, classist, garbage take".
"And I’m always going to talk back about this shit because I’m never going to let women and folks who look like me feel bad about themselves never going to shut up," she added.
Never Have I Ever actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan clapped back at the troll, writing, "womp womp cry harder. must be hard to look at four baddies constantly," adding a Kermit the Frog meme.
Ramakrishnan, who was born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, has been the frequent target of online trolling. Ganesh, an Indian-origin Tamilian born in Texas, is also the victim of racist comments.
Bridgerton actress Chandran and The Pitt actress Azeez, both Indian-origin actresses, are often targeted online due to their colour.
