Actor-comedian Vir Das isn’t holding back his thoughts on how cancel culture works differently in the West and in India. Vir shared his thoughts on cancel culture during a recent stand-up comedy performance, a snippet of which he posted on his Instagram account on Saturday. (Also read: Vir Das says he gets described like Covid-19 by the paparazzi, fans love his hilarious acceptance speech at IFFM 2025)

What Vir said

Vir began on stage, overlooking hundreds of attendees at the show: “Please don’t cancel me, I apologise! It would really interfere with my incarceration. This is the big Western comic complaint. I was with an American comic. He is like, ‘Vir, cancel culture is insane! The other day a mob came after me. A mob on Twitter!”

‘There are court cases inside the envelope’

As the audience giggled, Vir went on to gesture, calling the person up close and then giving him a kick. He then added, “It’s like telling the freshly castrated that your balls itch! The most annoying article I ever read in the West is that why doesn’t Indian comedy content push the envelope. Really b***h? Because we looked inside the envelope! There are court cases inside the envelope. There is a court date on top of the envelope.”

Vir has had his share of court cases and legal trouble over the last few years. In 2021, Vir sparked a controversy in India with a storm of criticism and a police complaint filed against him for allegedly insulting the country for talking about the “two Indias” he hailed from, taking on issues such as women’s safety, Covid-19, pollution and the farmer’s protest.

The Netflix series Hasmukh, featuring him, faced a legal challenge in 2020 from lawyers who filed a lawsuit and a legal notice alleging that the show’s content, particularly in episode four, maligned and defamed the legal profession.

Fool Volume, Vir’s latest standup special, was released on Netflix on July 18.