The king of incels Andrew Tate is back with another disgusting take — this time, he saw a video of Indian singer Diljit Dosanjh giving a fan his jacket during a concert and said, “Bet it stinks of curry”.
While we’re at a loss for words after this blatant display of racism, we’re also not too shocked because to expect anything better from Tate would be idiocy on our part. He is, after all, part of a wider problem and symbolises the misogynistic, racist and deeply hate-riddled side of the internet that most people want to ignore.
Needless to say, the internet jumped to support Dosanjh. Indian singer Adnan Sami Khan shared the news on Instagram and said the jacket smelled of love.
“The best part was that none of the audience members were ‘rapists nor ‘child traffickers’ like what you’re accused of and arrested for.”
Last year, Romanian prosecutors charged Tate with human trafficking, rape and forming a gang to sexually exploit women. Tate was indicted with his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects. They were placed under house arrest pending an investigation into abuses against seven women whom prosecutors say were lured through false claims of relationships.
Indian politician S Rajiv Krishna said Tate’s comment was “highly objectionable and racist”, and requested that he immediately apologise to Dosanjh.
“If you don’t, well, it shows your true character and it’s your loss.”
Other X (formerly Twitter) users put Tate in his place by calling him a “trash bag” and “racist”, with one netizen highlighting that curry still smelled better than sexual misconduct — of which Tate has also been accused. According to the BBC, this May, lawyers for four women who claimed they were assaulted by Tate and his brother said they were bringing a civil case against him at the High Court in the UK for “damages for injuries they suffered as a result”.
An X user also underscored that Tate wanted attention and Dosanjh was “hitting it out of the park when it comes to popularity”. We agree completely — the ‘Naina’ singer is on a global tour, with hundreds of thousands of fans coming to see him perform every day, while Tate? Well, we rarely hear anyone talk about him, unless he does something extra incel-esque.
Other users said Dosanjh is a million times the man Tate is (facts!) and has more live audience than Tate could “ever think of”.
Another person hoped that Tate’s tweet against Dosanjh might convert Indian fanboys of the influencer, because “one thing Indians will band for is Diljit”. Someone else questioned Muslim men who admired Tate, asking how this behaviour is acceptable in Islam, as “every South Asian has experienced this type of racism.”
In case you (looking at you, Tate supporters) can’t understand the racist connotations to his comment, let us break it down for you. The remark uses a stereotype to make assumptions about Dosanjh in a way that’s harmful — for centuries, people of the subcontinent have been victims of racism at the hands of the West.
Saying curry has a “stink” is derogatory to an entire culture, and implies it’s unpleasant, while ignoring the appreciation brown people have for the aromas and flavours that come from the spices we use. Simultaneously, it promotes a bias against non-western food. Foods from non-western (or non-white) cultures are labelled as “stinky” or “too strong” by those unfamiliar with them, which reinforces biases against people of colour.
The stereotype of “stinky food” — be it Indian curry, Korean kimchi, Malaysian laksa or anything else that isn’t seasoned exclusively with salt and pepper — is especially employed as a tool of racism against people of colour living in Western countries. Books, movies, TV shows and people’s lived realities are littered with instances of them being attacked on the basis of their food.
The term “curry” itself is a gross generalisation of South Asian food — not to mention, other Asian cuisine that have curries. As brown people we rarely use the word curry, we have salan, karahi, daal, korma and so much more — each one entirely unique and representative of centuries of culinary traditions. To brush it all under the generic term of “curry” is disrespectful to us and our ancestors.
As Annita Mannur, a scholar of food, wrote for NBC News, “Terms like ‘curry’ are fraught because they carry the weight of colonial history, and that history informs what the average white person thinks when they hear the term ‘Indian food’. Curry became a quick way for the British to describe so much of the food of India with little respect for regional difference or nuance. So when people dismiss Indian food as ‘insane’ or ‘weird’, it is not without historical precedent.”
Furthermore, for those of us who grew up in Pakistan or India, we don’t think about the aroma of our own food in a negative way — it simply exists. But to say someone smells like curry is reducing their entire existence to a dish which kind of isn’t even a thing in the Subcontinent. At least get specific with your curry — do we smell like ginger and garlic being sauteed? Onions being fried? Masala being browned?
The bottom line is that curry isn’t stinky. It is people’s racist perceptions and lack of regard for other cultures and traditions that are the problem, not anyone’s food. To call it “stinky” is not just an insult to billions of people across the globe but also shows the world how uncultured you are. Imagine never having tried delicious South Asian food!
We hope Tate enjoys his boiled chicken with a sprinkling of black pepper while we blast Dosanjh’s Punjabi bangers and enjoy a big bowl of stinky, delicious “curry”. Complete with an even stinkier garlic naan. Divine.