An Indian actor has apologised to badminton star Saina Nehwal after his "sexist" tweet to her kicked up a social media storm.
Siddharth, who uses only one name, said he was trying to make a "rude joke" in response to a tweet by Nehwal.
But his "tone and words" couldn't be justified, he added in an apology tweeted on Tuesday night.
Siddharth's tweet had drawn outrage for an alleged sexual slur, a charge the actor denies.
The controversy began when Siddharth responded to a tweet by Nehwal on a security breach faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
一名印度演員向羽毛球明星塞納·內(nèi)瓦爾（Saina Nehwal）道歉，此前他對她的“性別歧視”推文引發(fā)了社交媒體風(fēng)暴。
只使用一個(gè)名字的悉達(dá)多說，他試圖開一個(gè)“粗魯?shù)耐嫘Α眮砘貞?yīng)內(nèi)瓦爾的一條推文。
但他在周二晚上發(fā)推文道歉時(shí)補(bǔ)充說，他的“語氣和言辭”是沒有道理的。
悉達(dá)多的推文因涉嫌性誹謗而引起憤怒，該演員否認(rèn)了這一指控。
當(dāng) Siddharth 回應(yīng) Nehwal 關(guān)于總理納倫德拉·莫迪 (Narendra Modi) 上周面臨的安全漏洞的推文時(shí)，爭議就開始了。
Modi trapped on flyover in security breach
Mr Modi was briefly trapped on a flyover in the north Indian state of Punjab on his way to a rally as a group of protesting farmers blocked the roads.
He later returned to Delhi without attending the programme.
The incident, described as a "serious lapse" by the home ministry, set off a political firestorm over who was responsible for the breach.
Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the government of Punjab, ruled by the opposition Congress party, of deliberately trying to undermine the prime minister's security.
The controversy spilled over into social media as well, as supporters and critics of the BJP weighed in.
由于一群抗議的農(nóng)民封鎖了道路，莫迪先生在前往印度北部旁遮普邦的一個(gè)天橋上短暫受困。
他后來返回德里，但沒有參加該活動(dòng)。
這一事件被內(nèi)政部描述為 "嚴(yán)重失誤"，引發(fā)了一場關(guān)于誰該為這次失誤負(fù)責(zé)的政治風(fēng)暴。
執(zhí)政的印度人民黨成員指責(zé)由反對黨國大黨統(tǒng)治的旁遮普省政府故意破壞總理的安全。
這場爭論也蔓延到了社交媒體上，印度人民黨的支持者和批評者紛紛發(fā)表看法。
Nehwal, who joined the BJP in 2020, tweeted that she strongly condemned the "cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists", without naming anybody in particular.
Siddharth, a critic of Mr Modi, then quote-tweeted her comment with: "Subtle cock champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India."
The 6 January tweet began gaining attention over the weekend and soon drew outrage from all sides of the political spectrum for the alleged sexual wordplay on Nehwal's sport (badminton players use a shuttlecock).
Singer Chinmayi Sripada, who has often spoken about harassment faced by women, told Siddharth the comment was "crass".
"You just contributed to what a lot of us women are fighting against," she said.
India's National Commission for Women (NCW) even wrote to Twitter, asking them to block Siddharth's account.
It also wrote to police in Maharashtra state, where the actor is based, asking them to take action against him.
Siddharth then attempted to clarify his tweet, saying he was referring to the idiom "cock and bull".
"Reading otherwise is unfair and leading! Nothing disrespectful was intended, said or insinuated. Period," he tweeted on 10 January.
But not many bought that explanation.
Several TV channels invited political leaders to weigh in on the comments - some BJP leaders alleged that the actor had allowed his "hatred for the PM" to get the best of him.
Others continued tweeting about the controversy, using hashtags such as #NarendraModiPunjabvisit, ensuring it remained a Twitter trend.
Some right-wingers even tagged Bollywood actor Swara Bhasker - another critic of Mr Modi - asking her to weigh in on the comments.
Nehwal told news agency PTI that the comments were "not nice".
"He can express himself with better words but I guess it's Twitter and you remain noticed with such words and comments," she said.
Siddharth deleted both tweets - the one that kicked off the controversy and his explanation - later.
Late on Tuesday night, he tweeted a letter apologising to Nehwal.
2020 年加入印度人民黨的內(nèi)瓦爾在推特上表示，她強(qiáng)烈譴責(zé)“無政府主義者對莫迪總理的懦弱攻擊”，但沒有特別提及任何人。
莫迪先生的批評者悉達(dá)多隨后在推特上引用了她的評論：“世界微妙的公雞冠軍......感謝上帝，我們有印度的保護(hù)者?！?/p>
1 月 6 日的推文在周末開始受到關(guān)注，并很快引起了政治派別對內(nèi)瓦爾運(yùn)動(dòng)中所謂的性文字游戲（羽毛球運(yùn)動(dòng)員使用羽毛球）的憤怒。
經(jīng)常談?wù)撆悦媾R的騷擾的歌手 Chinmayi Sripada 告訴 Siddharth，評論是“粗魯?shù)摹薄?/p>
“你只是為我們許多女性所反對的事情做出了貢獻(xiàn)，”她說。
印度全國婦女委員會(huì)（NCW）甚至寫信給推特，要求他們封鎖悉達(dá)多的賬戶。
它還寫信給演員所在的馬哈拉施特拉邦警方，要求他們對他采取行動(dòng)。
悉達(dá)多隨后試圖澄清他的推文，稱他指的是成語“公雞和公?！?。
“以其他方式閱讀是不公平和領(lǐng)先的！沒有任何不尊重的意圖、言論或暗示。期間，”他在 1 月 10 日發(fā)推文說。
但沒有多少人相信這個(gè)解釋。
幾個(gè)電視頻道邀請政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人發(fā)表評論 - 一些人民黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人聲稱這位演員讓他的“對總理的仇恨”得到了最好的發(fā)揮。
其他人繼續(xù)發(fā)布有關(guān)爭議的推文，使用#NarendraModiPunjabvisit 等標(biāo)簽，確保它仍然是推特的趨勢。
一些右翼分子甚至給寶萊塢演員斯瓦拉·巴斯克貼上了標(biāo)簽——莫迪的另一位批評者——要求她對這些評論發(fā)表意見。
內(nèi)瓦爾告訴新聞社 PTI，這些評論“不好”。
“他可以用更好的詞來表達(dá)自己，但我猜這是推特，你仍然會(huì)因?yàn)檫@樣的詞和評論而受到關(guān)注，”她說。
悉達(dá)多后來刪除了兩條推文——引發(fā)爭議的一條推文和他的解釋。
周二深夜，他在推特上發(fā)了一封向內(nèi)瓦爾道歉的信。
Siddharth has acted in several movies since his debut in a Tamil film almost two decades ago. While he is more popular in the southern film industry, his character in a 2006 Bollywood hit, Rang De Basanti, has made him recognisable to Hindi movie-watchers as well.
Nehwal, the first Indian badminton player to have won an Olympic medal, is one of the country's most celebrated sports stars. She is often credited with inspiring many young women to play badminton in a cricket-obsessed country.
西達(dá)斯自從二十年前在泰米爾電影中首次亮相以來，已經(jīng)出演了多部電影。雖然他在南部電影界更受歡迎，但他在2006年寶萊塢熱門電影《Rang De Basanti》中的角色使他也被印度電影觀眾所認(rèn)識。
內(nèi)瓦爾是第一個(gè)贏得奧運(yùn)會(huì)獎(jiǎng)牌的印度羽毛球運(yùn)動(dòng)員，是該國最著名的體育明星之一。她經(jīng)常被認(rèn)為激勵(lì)了許多年輕女性在一個(gè)癡迷于板球的國家里打羽毛球。
