US Sikh sues Leno for his ‘racist’ joke

Jan 26, 2012 - Yoshita Singh |

New York

American talk show host Jay Leno has been sued by an Indian-American in California for his “racist” comments on the Golden Temple and ridiculing the entire Sikh community by portraying the holy shrine as a vacation home.

According to court papers filed in the Los Angeles superior court, Randeep Dhillon claims that Leno “hurt the sentiments of all Sikh people in addition to those of the plaintiff” with his joke that the Golden Temple could be a possible summer home of Mitt Romney, a leading Republican presidential hopeful.
The celebrity website TMZ said Dhillon has filed a libel suit and is seeking unspecified damages. The suit adds that Leno’s joke “clearly exposes the plaintiff, other Sikhs and their religion to hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy because it falsely portrays the holiest place in the Sikh religion as a vacation resort owned by a non-Sikh”.
It said this is not the first time Leno has ridiculed the Sikh community.
“Previously, in 2007, he called Sikhs ‘diaper heads’. Clearly, Jay Leno’s racist comments need to be stopped right here,” the suit added. In more trouble for the TV host, a Sikh rights group lodged a complaint with a federal agency demanding action be taken against Leno and NBC-TV for airing the “racist and derogatory” depiction of the Golden Temple.

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