Days before the release of his mystery dramedy Mistry, actor Ram Kapoor has been dropped from the series’ promotional activities. The decision was made by the top brass at JioHotstar — which will host the series — after the actor allegedly made sexually inappropriate remarks during a media interaction at J W Marriott, Juhu, on Thursday.

Multiple eyewitnesses revealed that Kapoor, while seated alongside his co-star Mona Singh and JioHotstar executives, made comments laden with sexual innuendo that left members of the team uncomfortable.

We’re told one of the instances happened between two interviews. A JioHotstar insider revealed, “The tone and content of his ‘jokes’ were unprofessional. He had back-to-back interviews that day. Referring to the work pressure at one point, he said he feels ‘gang-raped’. This remark was made while one journalist was setting up her mic.” The journalist corroborated the episode. 

In the course of the evening, Kapoor — while interacting with the JioHotstar and public relations teams — apparently made off-colour remarks about their outfits and their family. One of the executives recounted, “He looked at my colleague’s dress and referring to its length, said, ‘The clothes are distracting.’”

Another staffer said that the team was aghast at the number of offensive things he said, under the garb of humour, throughout the day. “It didn’t hit immediately, but when it did later that evening, we started recounting the number of offensive things he said. He told one of our male colleagues that his mother should have faked a headache and he shouldn’t have been born. He made references to sex positions.”

The following morning, June 20, the matter was swiftly escalated to JioHotstar’s senior leadership. Internal discussions were held with the streamer’s HR team, following which it was decided that Kapoor’s remaining promotional appearances would be cancelled and he would be distanced from the show.

An insider states, “This workplace prioritizes dignity and safety. After a complaint was formally raised and the incidents corroborated by eyewitnesses, the leadership moved promptly. The platform wants to distance itself from any behaviour that normalizes workplace misconduct. The interviews are being solely held with Mona.”

In light of the incident, internal training sessions on gender sensitivity have been apparently fast-tracked as  the platform seeks to reinforce its workplace code of conduct.

mid-day reached out to Kapoor, who did not respond till press time.