In a recently held press conference, Rakhi Sawant had responded to the defamation suit of Rs 10 crore slapped by Tanushree Dutta. Not only did she threaten Tanushree of filing a countersuit of Rs 50 crore, but also went ahead to claim that Tanushree is a guy in the guise of a woman i.e., she's a lesbian. Rakhi had also alleged that Tanushree had raped her 12 years back and had 'touched her private parts'. Rakhi further alleged that Tanushree was a drug addict.

Now, Tanushree has issued a statement in response to Rakhi's claims. "For those uninitiated in the art of guerrilla war tactics: Smear campaigns never run fair or square. So just to set the record straight: I'm not a drug addict, I don't smoke or drink and I'm most definitely not a lesbian," she said. In fact, Tanushree said that she was "too much of a woman for this patriarchal and misogynistic cesspool to handle". This is why Rakhi was making such "perverted character assassination attempts" to silence her, she said. "It's clearly not working. Let's not make a jokery (sic) of such a serious movement that can potentially bring positive changes of mindset in our society," she concluded.

Nana Patekar

For those who're still uninitiated, it all started when Tanushree Dutta called out veteran actor Nana Patekar, saying that he had made her feel uncomfortable on the sets of the 2008 film Horn OK Pleassss by inserting lewd dance steps at the last moment and threatening her with goons. She also said that the producers of the film and the choreographer Ganesh Acharya sided with the actor and did nothing even after her repeated complaints. Tanushree's act sparked off what is now being referred to as the #MeToo movement in India, with women from various fields of work coming out and naming the predators on social media.