The Vishnu Manchu-led Movie Artists Association (MAA) has taken action against several YouTube channels for posting offensive content. Recently, YouTuber Praneeth Hanumanthu was arrested for ‘joking’ about child abuse during a live session, which caught the attention of several Tollywood celebs. (Also Read: FIR lodged against YouTuber for ‘pedophilia joke’ after Sai Dharam Tej’s post; Manchu Manoj, Nara Rohit too call him out)
‘We have blocked 23 channels’
The MAA association has so far blocked 23 YouTube channels for posting regressive content. Earlier this month, it wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “The action has begun. Five YouTube channels have been blocked for posting derogatory comments about actors, their families and personal attacks. This is just the beginning. We will continue to update the list as further action is taken…”
On Wednesday afternoon, they tweeted that they have blocked 18 more such YouTube channels and released a list. They wrote, “As part of our ongoing efforts to shut down YouTube channels that post derogatory content on our artists. We have blocked 18 more channels spreading harmful content. Stay tuned for further updates.”
The incident comes days after Praneeth’s arrest and Vishnu’s ‘appeal’ to YouTubers to remove offensive content.
what vishnu manchu said
On July 10, Vishnu released a video on his Instagram, praising Sai Dharam Tej for bringing the issue to the fore. He said, “Some Telugu people are behaving very badly online, giving us a bad name. A few days ago, Sai Dharam Tej questioned Hanumanthu. The video was so horrible that even the CM and officials reacted to it. Why would someone behave like this?”
After calling out the creators of the video, Vishnu also revealed that MAA has received ‘many complaints’ about similar channels. He concluded the video by saying, “People also talk very badly about heroines, actors’ wives under the guise of dark humour. I appeal to all those who create such videos to remove them within 48 hours. If they don’t, we will take action, flag it to YouTube, complain to cybersecurity and take legal action to ban your channel. I appeal to Telangana and AP authorities to support us in this.”
How did it all start?
Praneeth and several other YouTubers held a live session in which they reacted to the Instagram reel by cracking inappropriate ‘jokes’ about the relationship between a father and a young daughter. Actor Sai from Tollywood was the first to notice the video and slammed Praneeth for it. Several actors like Nara Rohith, Sudheer Babu, Karthikeya and Manchu Manoj also reacted to it and informed the authorities about the video, resulting in Praneeth’s arrest.
