In April 2018, comedian and TV host Kapil Sharma was embroiled in a controversy after a telephonic spat with Vickey Lalwani, a Mumbai-based film journalist and content head at SpotboyE-com. Following the incident, both parties filed police complaints against each other.
Sharma accused Lalwani of defamatory writing, threats of extortion, and harassment, alleging that Lalwani was in collusion with Sharma's former managers, Neeti and Preeti Simoes. Sharma claimed that he had terminated the Simoes sisters' contracts due to unsatisfactory performance, and they possessed intimate knowledge of his personal and professional life. He further alleged that SpotboyE.com had been publishing negative and exaggerated news about him, potentially influenced by his former managers. Sharma's lawyer stated that someone had approached Sharma demanding Rs 2.5 million to prevent the publication of damaging information.
Lalwani, on the other hand, accused Sharma of threats, abuse, and harassment in his police complaint. Lalwani stated that Sharma called him on a Friday evening and used "extremely bad and unparliamentary language". He added that the call went viral on social media, and he received numerous calls of support. Lalwani told ANI that Sharma was upset about negative stories being published about him and used abusive language and made offensive comments about his daughter. According to Spotboye.com, during the call, Sharma allegedly accused Lalwani of publishing stories that portrayed him negatively and blamed him for worsening his mental state.
In addition to the phone call, Sharma faced backlash for a series of abusive tweets he posted. Initially, he claimed his account was hacked but later admitted that he had written the tweets himself. In one tweet, he defended Salman Khan and criticized the media for spreading "fake news".
The incident occurred after Sharma's mid-air brawl with Sunil Grover in March 2017, which was followed by a decline in his career. Lalwani noted that Sharma had been annoying the film industry by making them wait for long hours and showed no remorse. Lalwani also stated that he was subjected to abuse and threats for reporting on Sharma's canceled shoots, the poor performance of his film Firangi, and the lackluster reception of his new show, Family Time With Kapil Sharma.
