Content creator and actor Kusha Kapila has finally broken her silence regarding some of the jokes that were made at her expense during Aashish Solanki’s Pretty Good Roast Show. In a statement published on YouTube two days ago, Kapila said that the jokes “dehumanised” her and were “shockingly unkind”.

Shot in January and aired last month, the episode’s comedian panel—featuring Aaditya Kulshreshth, Gurleen Pannu, Samay Raina and Shreya Priyam Roy—took aim at Kapila’s recent divorce from Zorawar Ahluwalia and her weight loss journey. A significant chunk of Raina’s material from the roast was censored, with the disclaimer “some jokes had to be removed because we were not ready for them”.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding what was said by Raina and why Kapila chose to be a part of the roast if she was uncomfortable with it, with many people arguing that she was paid to be there. In her statement, Kapila clears the air. “It was done in good faith and for a friend. Nobody has been paid (neither comics nor guests) for it so argument that people are ‘being paid big fat cheques to hear their insults’ is baseless,” she wrote.

Kapila also stated that she was not aware of what was coming since no script was shared beforehand, unlike most roast shows in the West. Her episode was also the first one to be shot in the series. She believes “everyone had fair bit of learnings post shoot which is why in other episodes, boundaries haven’t been crossed, especially with women.”

“This has been a huge learning for me too since over the course of last six months during negotiations, I have been told that I deserve these jokes and that as a divorced woman I should have seen this coming,” she added. “Maybe I should have and maybe silence on this topic is seen as cowardice but it’s mostly choosing peace over endless discourse that will likely villainise women. Simultaneously, when you don’t speak, people also choose to believe whatever they want to. So this is me clearing the air as much as I can and advising women artists to have strict riders in place.”

A number of women fans at the recording expressed their discomfort with the material. There was also online backlash regarding the censorship of some of the jokes in the episode. “A considerable section of the male audience believing I deserve this roast further proves our decision to censor the jokes,” she wrote. “You may write something as a joke but it’s not in your hands if it will be perceived as one.”

Kapila had been a part of two roasts previously and those were a “were a wonderful experience,” she said. “This too, would have been if all parties involved were aware what may come for them.”

When Solanki had announced the show with an Instagram post on 10 January, we had reached out to Kapila for a comment. “I don’t remember consenting to it,” she had joked. “I genuinely think I will block Samay after this roast because he plans to decimate me.”

Solanki also ran into trouble with another episode of The Pretty Good Roast Show featuring Ashneer Grover, the former co-founder and managing director of Indian fintech company BharatPe. Grover took offense at some of the jokes that made it to the final edit and had threatened them with legal action, Solanki had said in a statement.