German vlogger Christian Betzmann has provoked the ire of Indians after he expressed his disgust for the country's street vendors using what was considered obscene language.
"20 dudes screaming in front of my Airbnb ever day to sell their s***." "I should buy all his pineapples and shove it up his a**. B***h," Betzmann wrote in a now-deleted Instagram story on Monday, causing massive uproar.
A Reddit user posted his clip with the caption: "Just another day of a privileged individual whining about the way poor earn their daily bread."
After the comment, he received a massive backlash from the Indian community and some non-Indians for making insensitive comments.
In South Asian nations, it is common to come across street vendors or people selling food such as vegetables and fruit as well as other items in carts. Most of these people are migrants or homeless and cannot afford a proper shop and thus visit different locations, often shouting out to draw customers.
This is also one of the reasons why netizens lambasted Betzmann, as he failed to understand that these vendors rely on their sales for sustenance.
"This made me so angry! This POS influencer will have no qualms against filming the same people to show 'culture' but is cribbing about people's right to livelihood," wrote one Reddit user.
One Indian user tried to tell the German vlogger that street hawkers' screams are traditional, "a practice to save time and assist the elderly as well as women who traditionally took care of children by giving them easy access to market goods."
Rejecting the explanation, Betzmann said that vendors lack empathy and disturb others when they sell their goods.
"This country will never evolve because of ignorant people like you," he told the Instagram user.
"This person pays 0 tax. Neither should they be allowed to have a 'business' and then break into gated society to scream around…" he added, "Why do I argue with uneducated people like you who probably never left India."
Later, Betzmann took down his story.
"The audacity that some people have when visiting another country. He needs to learn to respect other people before he visits another state in India," another user remarked.