Tollywood actor Sai Dharam Tej today participated in the Abhayam Masoom Summit 2025 held in Hyderabad. He mentioned YouTuber Praneeth Hanumantu, who faced criticism from him and other celebrities for making a “joke” last year at the event and expressed his desire to “burn down social media” upon seeing it. At the summit, Sai Dharam Tej invited a man to come on stage and read the specific “joke” that Praneeth had made the previous year. After the man read the comment and noted that it included a “disturbing visual,” Sai remarked, “There were 137 people who responded with laughing emojis; they enjoyed it. Look at where society is headed. The number of people who liked it? It’s unfortunate… very disturbing. Is this what we want for our children, our community, for those who will come after us? How can anyone make such vile comments about kids? At that moment, I wanted to burn down social media.”

The Mega hero explained that he felt compelled to speak out after noticing that no one else seemed to care, saying, “I waited to see if anyone would address this, but nobody did. So I felt I had to take action. People are using the idea of dark humor to say things that are nonsensical and wrong. Yes, we have the right to express ourselves, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of hurting others.” In 2024, a clip from a podcast featuring YouTuber Praneeth making a “joke” about an inappropriate relationship between a young girl and her father started circulating on social media. This quickly attracted backlash from online users.