Mumbai Court Orders YouTuber CarryMinati to Remove Defamatory Video Targeting Filmmaker Karan Johar

Mumbai. A Mumbai court has ruled in favor of famous film producer Karan Johar, ordering popular YouTuber CarryMinati (Ajay Nagar) to remove his derogatory video.

Some time ago, CarryMinati posted a roast video satirizing Karan Johar's personality and his famous chat show ‘Koffee With Karan.’ Johar filed a lawsuit in court strongly objecting to the language and style used in that video.

During the hearing on February 9, Judge Pandurang Bhosale deemed the video defamatory and issued an interim order for its immediate removal and to prevent the re-sharing of such content.

During the court hearing, the judge stated that it was prima facie evident that Ajay Nagar and his channel manager Deepak Char used extremely obscene and defamatory language against the plaintiff Karan Johar. 

The court clarified that such videos tarnish an individual's reputation, necessitating their immediate removal from social media and preventing other users from spreading or re-sharing them. This order has sparked a new debate on the limits of freedom of expression versus defamation on social media.

The core of this dispute is the video titled ‘Koffee With Jalan’ posted by CarryMinati on his YouTube channel. CarryMinati, who has over 45.3 million subscribers, mocked Karan Johar in this video by imitating his attire.

The video also included vulgar comments mimicking Karan, as well as wrestler Khali, Ranveer Singh, and Salman Khan. Karan Johar chose the legal route alleging defamation, leading the court to take this step to protect his honor.

Following the court's order, CarryMinati has removed the controversial video from his official channel. However, the video is still available on various other channels and platforms on the internet. The court explicitly warned in its order that action could be taken against anyone spreading this video.