Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Monday wrote an open letter to BookMyShow requesting the online ticketing platform to either not delist him or to hand over the contact information of audience members he has earned through his solo shows over the years.
Later in the day, BookMyShow in an official statement said facts on its role have been 'misrepresented in the public domain'.
The letter, which he shared on his X page, comes days after Shiv Sena claimed BookMyShow had taken Kamra off the sale and artists list from its platform amid ongoing controversy around his 'traitor' jibe against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
'Dear BookMyShow, I understand that you need to maintain a cordial relationship with the state, and I know that Mumbai is a major hub for live entertainment. Without the state's cooperation, iconic shows like Coldplay and Guns N' Roses wouldn't be possible...
'I request one of the following: Do not delist me, or provide me with the data (contact information) I've generated through your platform from my audience,' Kamra said in his two-page letter.
On April 5, the Mumbai-born comedian -- who is now a permanent resident of Tamil Nadu -- had asked BookMyShow whether the reports of him being delisted from the platform were true.
'Hello @bookmyshow can you please confirm if I have your platform to list my shows if not it's fine. I understand (sic)' he wrote on X.
Hours after he posted the open letter, BookMyShow issued the official statement on Instagram, saying it is a platform to facilitate the sale of tickets and 'operates the business with neutrality and in compliance with the applicable laws of India'.
'Facts on our role have been misrepresented in the public domain. Our role is to provide a platform for ticket sales of live shows and it is the decision of the organiser or the venue to list or delist their shows,' the platform said in the statement, without naming Kamra.
'The content of each performance is solely at the discretion of the performer or the organiser (as the case may be) and does not bear any representation of our views. We work with all venues and promoters on mutually agreed upon commercials to provide our ticketing service, as would be the case with any business,' it added.
On Monday, the comedian also addressed his audiences calling for a boycott of the platform over the news of Kamra being delisted as an artist.
He said he was 'not a fan of boycotts or down rating a private business'.
'BookMyShow is well within their right to do what's best for their business (sic). However, the issue at hand isn't about whether you can or will delist me-it's about your exclusive right on listing our shows. By not allowing artists to list their shows through their own websites, you've effectively prevented me from accessing the audience I've performed for from 2017 to 2025,' he further stated in the letter.
According to Kamra, BookMyShow takes a 10 per cent cut of revenue for listing shows.
'However, this raises an important point: No matter how big or small a comedian is, we are all compelled to spend between 6,000 to 10,000 rupees a day on advertising to reach our own audience. This cost is an additional burden that we, as artists, must bear.'
Kamra said one might argue that data protection is a concern, but the question of 'who protects what data, and from whom, is a much broader conversation'.
'What I'm requesting is simple: please ensure that you hand over the contact information of the audiences you've collected from my solo shows so that I can continue living my life with dignity and work towards a fair livelihood. As a solo artist, especially in the world of comedy, we are both the show and the production.
'For instance, if I performed at the Pune Comedy Festival with 30 other artists, that would be considered comedy's collective data. But my solo shows-that's my audience. The least I deserve, should you choose to delist me, is access to them,' he wrote.
Kamra's letter comes the same day the comedian moved the Bombay high court, seeking to quash a first information report (FIR) lodged against him by the city police for his alleged remarks against Shinde, with the Madras High Court extending his interim anticipatory bail in relation to the case till April 17.
The comic also claimed he has been receiving death threats after the show and hence, requested the police to question him via video conference. Some social media users have expressed support for Kamra and said they would delete the BookMyShow app if he is delisted as an artist on the platform.
A social media user wrote, 'I have decided to #BoycottBookMyShow. What kind of an app tries to hold responsibility for the show content. To whoever tried to force you on Kunal Kamra, @bookmyshow just had to say 'we are not responsible for show content'. You couldn't do that much!'
Another said, 'If BookMyShow removed Kunal Kamra from its app. Why don't we all uninstall the BookMyShow app from our phones? 1.They are exercising their freedom; we must exercise ours. 2.If they censor what we like, we should censor what we dislike. #boycottbookmyshow #istandwithkunalkamra.'
Kamra is at the centre of a major political controversy in Maharashtra for his comments about Shinde, which he made during a stand up show titled 'Naya Bharat' last month, which led to Shiv Sainiks vandalising the venue, hotel and multiple FIRs against the comedian.
His new stand up show, however, has garnered over 1.3 crore views on his YouTube channel.
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