When Salman Khan was appointed as the Goodwill ambassador of Rio Olympics this year, all hell broke lose because he is not a sportsperson. There were petitions filed against Salman and sports personalities like Milkha Singh even lashed out at the management for making an irrelevant choice. In fact, Olympics' bronze medallist, Yogeshwar Dutt, too expressed his displeasure with a series of tweets, barely within an hour after the ambassadorship was announced.
But now that AR Rahman and Sachin Tendulkar are also on board, Salman Khan, in a recent interview, questioned the decision of taking them on board.
He was quoted as saying, "The media should have done the same when Sachin and Rahman were roped in. Why didn't that happen? Why didn't the media give them the same coverage that they gave me? In their case too, while one isn't a sportsperson, the other has only played one sport.
Does Rahman need a state level certificate or a national-level medal to be called a sportsperson? In fact, all the kids who have tried out certain sports and haven't won a medal, aren't sportspersons? All the kids who follow a sportsperson aren't sportspersons? So why just pick me?"
When asked if his criminal records fueled the controversy, he retorted, "So you have issues with one person who has court cases becoming the Olympics Goodwill ambassador. But there are so many politicians who have court cases against them? Desh zyaada important hai ya Olympics?For me, the country is important so I am ready to leave my post as the ambassador if the politicians also leave. There are so many people who have scams, corruption, and rapes but they are still there."