Cobrapost investigation reveals over 30 Bollywood celebs were willing to endorse political parties for money

An investigation conducted by Cobrapost  claims that nearly three dozen celebrities from the film and TV industry were willing to endorse a political party on social media for money ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The organisation claims that their team posed as representatives of a PR firm and approached 36 celebrities, including known singers, actors, choreographers and stand up comedians, who agreed to be a part of the scheme and even negotiated for a better amount. Jackie Shroff, Shakti Kapoor, Shreyad Talpade, Sunny Leone, Amisha Patel and Rakhi Sawant, among others were the ones named in the investigation.

Cobrapost further claims that some celebrities, in order to show they were eager to seal the deal, shared posts on their social media without being paid. They also agreed to defend the government on controversial issues. The celebrities were willing to sign a fake contract to conceal the real nature of the exercise and also swore not to keep the agenda under wraps.

The celebrities allegedly demanded fees ranging between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. As per the investigation, when singer Kailash Kher was approached, he accepted the offer instantly and was willing to accept the fee in cash. Leone was allegedly willing to take up the assignment in exchange for an overseas citizen status for her husband Daniel Weber.

The probe also revealed that Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, Soumya Tandon and Raza Murad refused to take up the offer.

Leone has now released a statement via her official Twitter handle. She refutes the claims made by Cobrapost and added that if she chose to promote anything political, she would choose the cause she believed in. She said that she is entitled to have a discussion with different people as she is regularly approached by people with different agendas.

Clarity !!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/tQ192e4J0W

— Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) February 19, 2019