YouTube is a barometer for fame with the number of Likes and Subscribers one could fetch, but for some, it is a means to whip up a controversy. Amid the recent news of an Israeli reporter sneaking into Mecca, a Telugu YouTuber has claimed he too entered the Mecca mosques, triggering online backlash.
Ravi Prabhu, from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, posted a video of him entering the holy city of Mecca on his YouTube channel. He also uploaded photos of his Mecca Masjid visit on social media.
In a YouTube Live video, he said even though he was a non-Muslim, he was able to enter Mecca, and claimed no-one else has achieved such a feat.
Drawing the ire of Muslim communities, members of the Hyderabad Muslim Society South India told News18 that they have demand a public apology from Prabhu, and he should announce on YouTube that he has hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Not doing so, would call for strict action against him, warned the community authorities.
This is not the first time that Prabhu’s YouTube videos have been criticised and caused a controversy. Earlier, he had held a press conference and said he was the first Telugu man to visit 186 countries but his claim fell flat after many of his peers on YouTube countered him. They even accused him of being a “fake traveller”.
Earlier, Prabhu had made comments in support of Pakistan. He posted #PakistanZindabad on his personal Facebook profile during the India-Pakistan cricket matches.
Prabhu has so far not responded to the allegations against him. When News18 contacted him on the current controversy, he said he did not want to comment.
Last month, an Israeli journalist, Gil Tamary of Channel13, posted a video on Twitter of himself sneaking into Mecca, in defiance of the ban on non-Muslims.
Mecca regional police have “referred a citizen” to prosecutors for alleged complicity in “transferring and facilitating the entry of a (non-Muslim) journalist”, a police spokesperson said in comments reported by the official Saudi Press Agency.
(with inputs from agency)
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