The actor had a ‘What’s the name’ moment when he forgot the name of India’s Olympic gymnast Dipa Karmakar.
It’s still in fresh memory that Salman Khan received a lot of backlash when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) named him as the goodwill ambassador for the Rio Olympics. The choice was criticised by many. Back then, Salman had brushed off the issue by blaming the media and questioning motives, saying, “The media should have criticised the other goodwill ambassadors such as Sachin and Rahman when they were roped in too”. While the issue had just been laid to rest, Salman seems to have stirred the hornet’s nest once again, and this time with a goof up of his own doing.
At the trailer launch of Freaky Ali, which was held this week, the IOA Goodwill Ambassador, messed up Indian gymnast, Dipa Karmakar’s name.
Sadly, it was the same evening that Dipa made history by becoming the first Indian to qualify for the individual vault finals (which will take place on August 14) in Rio Olympics.
When asked about the athlete at the event, the confused Salman said, “I thought... it was Deepika I thought she was going to win gold but she came eighth.”
Then a reporter sitting nearby suggested ‘Dipti’ as the athlete’s name, which Salman grabbed on to and said, “Oh yeah, Dipti.”
However, the goof up has revealed more about the actor’s support to sportspersons on Twitter, seeing that just a week ago, he had cheered Dipa on writing, “Let’s cheer our 2016 Olympic stars. Here’s Dipa Karmakar #YouMakeUsProud. (sic)”
This wasn’t even the only ‘what’s the name ’ moment for Salman at the event as the actor also forgot his former co-star and Freaky Ali’s lead, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s name. Salman introduced Nawazuddin Siddiqui as ‘Nawazuddin Shah’ at the film’s trailer launch.
