Tweet about PM Imran leaves Indian cricketer Sehwag red-faced

Twitterati poke fun at the Indian batsman for his English language skills

A disparaging tweet about a television interview of Prime Minister Imran Khan earned former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag scathing embarrassment on social media on Friday with Twitterati poking fun at him for his English language skills.

Premier Imran – who travelled to the United States late last month to attend the UN General Assembly session – had a two-week tour full of happenings during which he spoke at think tanks, addressed pressers, and gave interviews to top media groups.

In one of the panel interviews with American broadcaster MSNBC, when the prime minister spoke about the bumpy roads of New York, the interviewer, Joe Scarborough, laughed heartily saying: “Now you don’t sound like a prime minister… Now you sound like a voter from the Bronx.”

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The Bronx is a borough of New York City, coterminous with Bronx County, in the state of New York, the third-most densely populated county in the United States.

Sharing the same MSNBC interview clip on his Twitter handle, Sehwag wrote: “You sound like a welder from the Bronx, says the anchor. After the pathetic speech in the UN a few days ago, this man seems to be inventing new ways to humiliate himself.”

You sound like a welder from the Bronx, says the anchor.
After the pathetic speech in the UN a few days ago , this man seems to be inventing new ways to humiliate himself. pic.twitter.com/vOE4nWhKXI

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 3, 2019

Faras Ghani, digital editor at Al Jazeera English, advised Sehwag to “listen [to the clip] again. And again”.

Welder? Listen again. And again.

— Faras Ghani (@farasG) October 4, 2019

Another Twitter user, Noor, said most Indians have trouble understanding American accent. “He said 'Voter' not 'Welder'. Irony is an Indian trolling Oxford graduate Pakistani PM calling him a welder when his own PM is actually a CHAIWALA masters in ENTIRE political science.”

Most Indians have trouble understanding American accent. He said 'Voter' not 'Welder'

Irony is an Indian trolling Oxford graduate Pakistani PM calling him a welder when his own PM is actually a CHAIWALA masters in ENTIRE political science.

— Noor (@BirdSetFree93) October 3, 2019

Columnist Mehr Tarar said, "Indians turning voter into welder to mock Prime Minister Imran Khan is one of the most hilarious things of 2019! First, to "mishear" a word, that's just the inability to get American pronunciation of a very simple word. But then to use welder as gaali, now that's just pathetic"

Indians turning voter into welder to mock Prime Minister Imran Khan is one of the most hilarious things of 2019!

First, to "mishear" a word, that's just the inability to get American pronunciation of a very simple word.

But then to use welder as gaali, now that's just pathetic

— Mehr Tarar (@MehrTarar) October 3, 2019

As Sehwag’s tweet triggered a massive backlash on social media, MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough himself took to the microblogging site to clarify what he had said.

What in the world are you even talking about? As I tweeted earlier, I said “voter” from the Bronx. https://t.co/SI1DAJZ90Q

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 3, 2019

After Scarborough’s tweet, blogger Dr Farhan K Virk called upon Sehwag to apologise.

Now apologize if you have an iota of self respect which I am pretty sure you don't have https://t.co/ySsVFscKgq

— Dr Farhan K Virk (@FarhanKVirk) October 4, 2019

Now let’s see if Sehwag apologises for attributing something to Scarborough which he never said.