Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; December 22, 2017)

While parts of India are yet to warm up to Sunny Leone, the West seems to be welcoming her with open arms. After her New Year Eve gig in Bengaluru was cancelled due to security reasons, instead of performing in India, the actress is now headed to London, where she will perform on Christmas Eve.

Sunny backed out of the Bengaluru show citing safety concerns after the local police announced that permission will not be given for the event. The actress took to social media on Monday to announce her decision and tweeted, “Since the police of Bangalore have publicly said that they will not be able to ensure mine & all who attend safety for my New Years event, my team & I feel, safety of the people should always come first therefore I cannot attend. God bless & I wish everyone a safe & happy New Year!” (sic).

There were protests from activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Yuva Sene over her participation in the New Year’s Eve party. Some of them even threatened a mass suicide if she were to perform. Reportedly, the police maintained that their decision to deny permission for the event had nothing to do with the protest. It was, in fact, taken keeping law and order concerns in mind, as most of the police personnel would be deployed for bandobast duty on that day.

After her performance in London, Sunny will fly down to South Africa on Christmas to resume shooting for her film. She will celebrate the festival with her family there and will ring in the New Year in Dubai. Talking about her plans, Sunny said, “It’s always good to be working and I’m excited to kick in Christmas and the New Year with family.”