American-English vlogger couple Mackenzie and Keenan, known for their travel series featuring Kerala, have alleged that they faced sexual harassment while attending the state’s famous Thrissur Pooram festival, which took place on April 19. In a recent video shared on their Instagram account ‘UNSTUK with Mac & Keen’, the couple documented two unsettling incidents of harassment they experienced during the festival.
The video, titled ‘Questionable Moments at Thrissur Pooram’, begins with Mackenzie stating, “We’ve had some wonderful moments at Thrissur Pooram, but there were also some questionable moments.” It proceeds to show Mackenzie conducting an interview with a Pooram participant, who soon attempts to forcibly kiss her. Both Mackenzie and Keenan reacted with discomfort, audibly expressing their objections during the incident.
Later in the same video, Keenan disclosed that he was also groped by a man, who seemed to be “in his 50s”, at the festival. Thrissur police told TNM that the vloggers were yet to register a formal complaint.
The couple, who say they are on a mission to “live like locals and explore true culture around the world,” has been showcasing Kerala extensively in their travel content, emphasising on the region's positive aspects. In March, Mackenzie had posted a video asserting Kerala's safety for travellers, particularly for women. “My friends from the US and England ask if travelling in India is safe as a woman. I would say, in Kerala 100%. I’m not really sure about the rest of India yet. But here, I feel extremely safe. [Even when] I am walking on the street at night, obviously I’m careful, but I feel so safe,” she said.
The couple had posted another video later in March, reiterating that Kerala was safe for women, after a Spanish woman was gang raped and her husband physically assaulted in Jharkhand in the east of India. While acknowledging how violated, traumatised, and degraded the survivor must have felt, Mackenzie said, “It shouldn’t be a reflection of all of India. We are in Kerala right now, where we feel so safe. To be honest, this is the most safe (sic) I have felt and we have travelled to a lot of places.”