Poonam Pandey is no stranger to controversies. With 1.3 million followers on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), the stunning Indian model, ‘erotic actress’ and reality TV star is a notorious figure in South Asia.
For the uninitiated, Pandey shot to fame when she promised to strip down for the Indian team if they won the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Although India lifted the trophy, Pandey did not undress for them due to public disapproval in a largely conservative country.
However, in 2012 she posed nude after the cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders won the Indian Premier League.
A few years later, she uploaded to Instagram (later deleted) a sex tape she made with her boyfriend.
Last Friday, Poonam Pandey’s Instagram account published a statement announcing her death and claiming that she had ‘bravely fought’ cervical cancer
A day later it turned out that her death was a hoax and she wrote that she was ‘proud’ of the fact that her stunt had given rise to discussions about the disease.
She is the Indian Kim Kardashian, if you like, but perhaps with even less talent.
Then last week – Friday, February 2 – a statement was posted on Pandey’s Instagram account announcing her sudden death after she “bravely battled cervical cancer.”
Her manager, Nikita Sharma, confirmed the sad news and praised 32-year-old Pandey’s “unwavering spirit amid her health challenges” before she “tragically passed away.”
Sharma went on to discuss the “critical need for greater awareness and proactive measures against preventable diseases such as cervical cancer.”
Within hours, Pandey’s name was trending on social media. Condolences poured in from shocked fans, including Bollywood film stars, who were moved to tears and commented on how fit and healthy she had seemed just days earlier.
A tragedy. Except… it wasn’t. A day later it turned out that Poonam Pandey was still alive. It was all a hoax – and she was the perpetrator.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘I feel compelled to share something important with all of you – I am here, alive. Cervical cancer did not claim me, but tragically it has claimed the lives of thousands of women.”
Over the weekend she went further, brutally admitting online: ‘Yes, I faked my demise. Extreme, I know. But suddenly we’re all talking about cervical cancer, right? I am proud of what my death news has been able to achieve.”
Pandey admitted online on Saturday, “Yes, I faked my demise. Extreme, I know. But suddenly we’re all talking about cervical cancer, right?’
Pandey’s office justified her actions by saying her mother was battling cancer, while Schbang said in a statement that she had “experienced the challenges of fighting a disease like this”
She’s no stranger to crazy stunts, but was this a new low for Pandey – or a bold and effective attempt to raise awareness of a devastating women’s health problem?
India is responsible for almost a quarter of the world’s cervical cancer cases and 77,000 deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization. Many of these cases could be avoided if more women knew about the disease and its symptoms and had access to smear tests, or if teenagers were routinely vaccinated.
But no one in India is talking about the alarming prevalence of cervical cancer and how it could be curbed. Instead, they just talk about Poonam Pandey and some other scandalous stunt. It certainly didn’t her profile any damage.
In a defensive statement online, her agency, Schbang, attempted to justify her actions by revealing that Pandey’s mother was battling cancer (it did not specify which form).
“Having experienced the challenges of fighting a disease like this in such personal spaces, (Pandey) understands the importance of prevention and the criticality of awareness, especially when a vaccine is available,” the statement said.
So that’s good then…
However, it was not enough to calm the angry fans. One online comment – typical of the thousands of messages posted – read: ‘I’m glad she’s alive, but (please) arrest her for this drama and publicity stunt.’
Another commented: ‘Next time people don’t take you seriously, you’ve just destroyed your entire credibility.’
Film director Pooja Bhatt tweeted that this was an “absolute shame.” TV actor Aly Goni called Pandey’s actions ‘F***ing cheap…’
In a world dominated by social media, some influencers are going out of their way to grab attention – whether it’s through increasingly surprising surgeries to improve parts of their anatomy or reckless, death-defying stunts – or now even to their own to stage death.
Poonam Pandey’s case raises critical questions about how willing we are to believe everything we see or hear online.
A survey by the British agency Newsworks showed that 54 percent of people believe this to have misled into believing fake news.
A 2022 Ofcom survey found that 30 percent of British adults who go online are unsure about the veracity of online information, or don’t even think about it, while six percent – around one in twenty internet users – believe anything what they see online. .
The 32-year-old reality TV star’s stunt sparked a number of angry comments online, including “next time people don’t take you seriously, you’ve just destroyed your entire credibility.”
Misinformation is like a virus. It spreads quickly and can have devastating consequences.
And when celebrities like Poonam Pandey – with millions of followers and a vast reach worldwide – resort to such abhorrent tactics, whatever their intentions, they make it even harder to separate reality from fake news and lies.
Nowadays it could be something trivial, like the supposed demise of a reality star. But tomorrow it could be something bigger and much more serious – like fake news about a nuclear attack or the death of a prominent politician. And that should worry us all.