Mumbai: Esha Gupta apologised to fans of English Premier League club Arsenal after she laughed off a racist comment about footballer Alex Iwobi.
They, however, were not convinced with the ‘apology’ and demanded she be removed as the club’s ambassador and ‘banned for life.’
The actress had shared by calling it ‘best’, a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with a person who goes by the handle @varun_gupta17. The person had referred to Alex Iwobi as ‘gorilla faced’ to say he was ‘so bad’ that he couldn’t see him ‘running down the flank.’ Esha had laughed off the comment and added that she wonders why they don’t bench him anymore.
https://twitter.com/eshagupta2811/status/1089554196267978754
The actress deleted the post on Instagram stories immediately, but fans had taken the screenshot of the screenshot and many took to Twitter to slam the actress.
Esha is an ambassador of the club and some fans felt she should be stripped off the position. Many tweeted to Arsenal FC’s official Twitter to ask her to stop supporting the club and a fan from rival Manchester United hoped they ‘ban her for life.’
Following the backlash, the actress took to Twitter to apologise if ‘you guys thought it was racist.’ She added that it was ‘bad’ on her part, being a sports lover, and that she didn’t mean it. Esha asked her fans to ‘forgive the stupidity.’
In another tweet, she wrote that she didn’t realise that their ‘frustration’ ‘directed towards racism’ and ‘laughed over the spur of the moment’, the result. Adding that she herself has been a victim of racism, the ‘Jannat 2’ star concluded that her action is not something she’s proud of and that it was a fault.
Netizens were not convinced at all and found her apology ‘meek and insincere’, just ‘full of excuses’ and the ‘biggest non-apology’. Some asked her not to put ‘gooner for life’ hashtag and one called it ‘ironic. Another fan asked her apologise to the footballer.
The actress has apparently been blocking those who slammed her for it, and they too expressed their thoughts.
