ABC apologizes to Quantico fans, defends Priyanka Chopra over backlash

Quantico recently aired an episode entitled “The Blood of Romeo” that ended up causing a great deal of controversy, especially in star Priyanka Chopra’s home country of India. The installment revolved around a professor who devises a plot to cause an explosion in New York using stolen uranium. At the end of the episode, it is discovered that the character had Hindu prayer beads and he was orchestrating an attack as an Indian nationalist to frame Pakistan.

As you would imagine, this episode has caused a great deal of controversy in South Asia over its depiction of the character, and with that, Chopra herself has come under fire by many. She remains an enormous star in the country thanks to her days in Bollywood, and it’s as a result of all of this that ABC opted to release an apology. Read it below, via Deadline:

“ABC Studios and the executive producers of Quantico would like to extend an apology to our audience who were offended by the most recent episode, ‘The Blood of Romeo.’ The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didn’t create the show, nor does she write or direct it. She has no involvement in the casting of the show or the storylines depicted in the series.

“Quantico is a work of fiction. The show has featured antagonists of many different ethnicities and backgrounds, but in this case we inadvertently and regrettably stepped into a complex political issue. It was certainly not our intention to offend anyone.”

All of this is why writing a show with so many international themes is so challenging, and also why we do see many choose to create fictional countries and individuals to avoid causing any offense. We feel for people who were hurt by the story, especially since Chopra has worked to be an ambassador of peace and goodwill throughout her life.

There is no Quantico tonight on ABC; the series will return soon with new episodes. The series has been already canceled, but the network is planning to air out the remainder of their episodes.

Of course, we welcome some of your thoughts on this subject below.