Post Kangana Ranaut's spat with PTI reporter, Balaji Motion Pictures issues apology to Entertainment Journalists' Guild

The Entertainment Journalists’ Guild of India has decided to boycott Kangana Ranaut, a delegation from the group told producer Ekta Kapoor on Tuesday, two days after the actor's spat with a _Press Trust of India_ journalist at a promotional event. Members of the Guild also demanded a public apology from both Kapoor and Ranaut, journalists present at the meeting said. Kapoor, whose Balaji Motion Pictures is producing Ranaut’s upcoming film Judgementall Hai Kya , agreed to issue the apology and expressed regret over Sunday’s incident, which has prompted a backlash against the star on social media, the journalists said. Balaji Motion Pictures released an official statement, apologising for what they termed as an “untoward incident.” The statement reads, “A lot is being reported about the debate that ensued between our film JudgeMentall Hai Kya’s actor and journalist Justin Rao, at the film’s song launch event on 7 July, 2019. Unfortunately, the event took an unpleasant turn. While the people involved in it fairly held their own perspectives but because it happened at the event of our film, we, as the producers, would like to apologize and express regret for this untoward incident. We would like to maintain that our intention was not to disrespect or hurt anyone’s sentiments. Our film JudgeMentall Hai Kya releases on 26 July and we urge the media to not let this one incident hamper the team effort that has gone behind making the film.” The journalists’ delegation presented a letter to Kapoor saying, “We, as a guild, have collectively decided to boycott Ms Ranaut and not give her any media coverage,” adding that the boycott will not affect the film or the rest of the cast. [caption id=“attachment_4394631” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Kangana Ranaut. Image from Twitter/@CNNNews18[/caption] The journalists conveyed to the producer that they have decided to “boycott” Ranaut from future events until the actor apologises for Sunday’s incident. The members said in the letter that Ranaut had lashed out at Press Trust of India journalist Justin Rao even before he could complete the question that he was asking at the press conference to promote the film on the pretext that he was running a “smear campaign” against her. Ranaut had also accused Rao of writing negatively about her film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi.  The journalist denied the allegations and the actor’s claim that he personally messaged her and spent three hours in her vanity van. He said he met the actor briefly for an interview and there were no personal messages. Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel said on Twitter that the actor will not apologise. “I promise one thing that there will be no apology from Kangana,” she tweeted and described the journalists as anti-national. Check out Rangoli Chandel’s tweet about sister Kangana Ranaut

Judgementall Hai Kya, which also features Rajkummar Rao, is scheduled to be released on 26 July.