Kenny Sebastian found himself in the middle of a controversy yesterday, after screenshots began circulating on social media purportedly showing the comedian using misogynistic language in the comments section of his Instagram posts. In response, the hashtag #KennySebastianGetPregnant started trending on Twitter, with right-wing trolls using a number of religious slurs against the comedian. In a statement released on Twitter, Sebastian claimed that the screenshots were fake, saying that “these are manipulated cause I reported an account who was attacking me cause of my religion. I will be approaching the Mumbai Police to get this investigated.” Sebastian did not respond to a request for further comment on the controversy.

The account that Kenny refers to seems to be Twitter and instagram user @ThePlacardGuy, whose twitter bio reads “yahan Leftists ke aansu nikaale jaate hain.” The two had been sparring online since July 1, when Sebastian put up a tweet regarding the TikTok ban. @ThePlacardGuy responded with a cuss-word laden tweet that included a derogatory term for Indian christians.

@ThePlacardGuy, as well as number of other right-wing accounts continued to troll Sebastian for the next few days, with many tweets targeting his religion. On 8 July, a number of screenshots and screen recordings allegedly showing Sebastian responding to the trolls with misogynistic abuse went viral. The tweet even caught the attention of the National Commission for Women, which said on Twitter that they would ask for an investigation into the issue.