Rajesh Koothrapalli has been one of the most curious pop culture figures in the recent past. The otherwise charming astrophysicist from The Big Bang Theory suffered from a condition called selective mutism which rendered him speechless in front of women. This is a disorder that usually stems from intense childhood anxiety and fans have often called out the makers of the show for trivializing it with constant digs at Raj for not being able to talk to girls.
Nevertheless, Raj is a complex character, he can be a loyal friend and a trustworthy partner, but he has quite a few flaws and some toxic traits. Though he goes through a tremendous character transformation, here are the things about Raj which made fans hate him and pity him.
10 Felt Sorry: When He Couldn’t Speak To Missy
Raj and Sheldon’s sister Missy could have actually made a really adorable couple, and Raj was the only one of her brother’s friends she was interested in. But sadly Raj could never actually talk to her because of his condition.
In fact, when Raj knocks on her door to ask Missy out, she seemed prepared to go out with him but he just could not get the words out. It seemed quite odd that Penny wouldn't tell Missy about Raj’s condition, but she never did and things never panned out between the two.
9 Hated Him: When He Flashed A Stranger
When Raj gets frustrated at how much his selective mutism affects his social life, he finds a medication that claims to cure the condition he takes it without mulling over the side-effects.
He goes to a cafe and tries to talk to a woman but turns out the medication takes away one’s sense of boundaries and inhibition and Raj starts undressing in public. Not only is the girl horrified and runs away, but the show trivialized harassment as some sort of a cheeky punchline, which was not okay.
8 Felt Sorry: When He Felt Bad About His Feminine Side
Raj finds a blog written by his girlfriend where she says Raj is not traditionally masculine, which makes him feel quite inadequate. But as Schmidt from New Girl would say, the rules of masculinity have changed and modern manhood is about 'exfoliation and cheese courses'.
Nevertheless, Raj actually tries to ‘butch it up,’ for his next date so his girlfriend would find him more desirable. But this made the fans quite sad because the fact that he is in touch with his feminine side made him all the more interesting.
7 Hated Him: When He Was Inappropriate With A Colleague
A lot of Raj’s problematic behavior was excused on the show for being drunken antics of someone who needs alcohol to communicate. But some of it went too far and even came across as loopy script-writing. Raj is offered sherry as he is talking up a professor at his university for a new position.
And right after he takes one sip he seems to have lost all his sense of propriety and asks a female colleague to join him in the bathtub. Not only is this ridiculous but also quite a gaffe because no one gets that drunk after a sip of sherry and Raj was quite desperate for a new job and he would never mess it up with something like this.
6 Felt Sorry: When He Was Dumped By Emily
To quote Sheldon, Raj’s family back in India is ‘vastly wealthy,’ and Raj’s father often manipulates his son with money. And though Raj is quite attached to his family money he was ready to give it all up when he started seeing Emily, as his father asked him to choose between money and Emily.
Emily turned out to be a gold digger who was only dating Raj because he bought her really expensive gifts and actually left him when he decided to give up his family money.
5 Hated Him: When He Was Rooting For Howard And Bernadette To Break Up
Raj had feelings for Bernadette as they got along well and she was nice to him. But instead of addressing his feelings or talking to Howard about it, he secretly wanted them to break up and even showed up at the Cheesecake Factory where she worked to spend some time with her alone.
In fact, when he found out that Bernadette might dump Howard he was actually waiting for it to happen so he could pursue her, which is disturbing considering he and Howard are really good friends and fans couldn't believe he would betray him like this.
4 Felt Sorry: When He Couldn’t Make It Work With Summer Glau
Raj may be the most charming of all his friends, at least when he could talk and verbally flirt with someone. And when the hang comes across Terminator star Summer Glau on a train, all of them want to go try their luck with her. And Raj is the only one who seemed to have made a lasting connection with Summer and she also seemed quite interested in him.
But a jealous Howard walked up to Raj to reveal that the beer Raj had been drinking is actually a non-alcoholic one, which triggered his mental block and he found himself unable to talk to Summer anymore. But if he hadn’t known about the beer maybe they would have developed a bond.
3 Hated Him: When He Came Between Leonard and Priya
One could see why Raj would be uncomfortable with the idea of his sister dating one of his closest friends, but Raj was positively nasty about the whole thing. Instead of understanding and talking things out, he tried to give Priya an ultimatum to dump Leonard which was ridiculous because Priya is an adult.
To top it off, he actually made a pact with his friends so none of them could pursue her, which is a really patriarchal move and takes away from Priya’s agency and her choice.
2 Felt Sorry: When His Friends Wouldn’t Support His Accomplishment
When Raj is featured on the ‘30 under 30’ list of a prestigious magazine for a planetary discovery, instead of celebrating his success and cheering him on, his friends took it rather badly. Not only were they jealous and questioned the legitimacy of the honor but actually declined to go to his party.
Granted Raj was being somewhat haughty over the recognition he had received but his friend group, and even his closest pal Howard, seemed to have a problem with his overnight success.
1 Hated Him: When He Lied About Having Sex With Penny
Probably one of the worst things that Raj has done on the show is lying about sleeping with Penny because it didn’t just make Penny feel incredibly guilty but it also caused a crack in the friendships within the group. Penny felt bad because she had already been with Leonard and didn’t want everyone to think she had no boundaries.
In reality, she never actually had sex with Raj and had just passed out next to him, but Raj wanted to leverage the idea of him ‘landing Penny’ to help him with his popularity which is also quite bizarre because he was aware that this would make Leonard feel bad.
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