Former radio presenter stands up for his wife in 'cyberbullying' incident
Durban - As Women’s Month draws to an end, actor and former Lotus FM presenter Vikash Mathura has defended his wife, Jagruthi “JJ” Mathura, whom a Facebook user accused of being old enough to be his mother.
The spat started after Mathura posted a promotional video of the couple’s upcoming show, In Therapy, on his Facebook page on Friday last week. It was shared on another page.
A Facebook user, under the name Raksha Maharaj, responded to the video: “Seriously? Is this the silliness that you guys have resorted to, to earn money and fame? JJ we told you years ago what you gonna put up with and yes, you still look old enough to be
his mother.”
The comment has since been deleted.
Mathura responded via Facebook in an open letter, labelling the post as a “vile commentary”.
A screengrab of the post.
Picture: Facebook
He told the POST he responded as a husband and father and that to call the show “silly” was to insult the intelligence of the thousands of fans who attended their performances and to “kick sand on the food of hundreds of freelance contractors” that worked with them.
Mathura added that while they received “tens of thousands of overwhelming responses about In Therapy from patrons and well-wishers, there was always bound to be at least one individual who would be negative. And that’s fine. But to make it personal well that just crosses the line”.
Commenting on the woman’s post, he wrote: “ What gives you the right to be critical of how MY wife looks? You would be blessed if you were half the woman that JJ is.”
He then highlighted JJ’s list of achievements over the years.
“JJ is the woman I chose to marry 27 years ago. She became the first
South African Indian woman to become a television presenter in 1988. She became one of the highest profiled
radio presenters in this country from 1987 until she left the radio industry in 2001.
“She holds two post graduate university degrees in the Arts and in Education. She still appears in many global television commercials, and she still lends her voice-over skills to various radio advertisements. Who are you??
“More importantly, she is a doting mother to my two adult children (Shabadh Mathura - 24, and Simran Mathura - 21) who will both read your comments about their mother.
“My team tells me that you have a young daughter too. I hope that your venomous and unnecessary utterances do not represent the kind of values that you would want your daughter to grow up with.”
Mathura said there was a six-year gap between them - he is 48 and Jagruthi is 54 - but it did not bother him.
“My wife will always be 6 years older than me. That seems to bother you more than it does us.”
Mathura further added that JJ
suffered from the muscular disease
fibromyalgia.
JJ also responded in an open letter of her own.
“I have feelings too, and am stung
by your venom. But that doesn’t
matter to you does it? I pray that your child never encounters people like
you, like mine just have. I pray that
your child always meets people who value love, respect and more importantly, kindness.”
The couple’s daughter, Simran, added her voice and labelled the user’s comment “sad and jealous”.
“ To watch my dad look at photographs of my mom from 30 years, 20 years, and 1 day ago - and still hear him say, ‘How is your mother this beautiful?’ (...) THAT IS LOVE.”
Mathura said they responded after realising they were cyber bullied.
“ while we don’t mind receiving criticism from our patrons, such criticism should be constructive about our content or our performance, and it should not degenerate into ridicule or a personal attack. Unfortunately, this person chose to attack our careers, and JJ and me - as a married couple.
“We realised immediately that we had become victims of cyber-bullying. Her initial comments were hurtful because they were unwarranted, unnecessary and venomous. Despite the
overwhelming public outcry, she persisted by posting further comments that were false and defamatory. It then became very evident that she had a personal agenda.”
The Mathuras said they would not let the comments affect the rest of
their tour.
When approached for comment, Maharaj said she was consulting
her attorneys and considering her options.