“An ignorant idiot who didn’t use his head!” Twitter slams Matteo Berrettini for using a racially abusive ‘Black Gorilla’ to hail his idol, LeBron James
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LeBron James and Matteo Berrettini
Italian Matteo Berrettini is one of the nicest people on the ATP Tour and is often a fan favorite whenever he steps on the court. But things haven’t been ideal this season for him both on and off the court. After a solid start to the season where he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, Berrettini suffered an injury as a result of which he had to miss the clay court season.
He came back with a bang on the grass-court season where he won back-to-back titles at Stuttgart and Queen’s Club. But all went south for him as he tested positive for Covid right before Wimbledon and couldn’t participate in it. He was one of the favorites to win Wimbledon this year but his string of bad luck continued.
Even off the court, Berrettini broke up with his girlfriend and fellow tennis player Ajla Tomljanovic earlier this year. And now, he finds himself at the center of yet another controversy. He shared a post featuring basketball legend LeBron James on his Instagram story with a gorilla emoji beside an emoji of a crown.
The story was supposed to be an appreciation of LeBron and was intended to say ‘The King of the Jungle’ but it accidentally came out to be very racist. He later issued an apology for the same and even deleted the story.
“I am very sorry if my previous story post offended anyone. I was informed that it can easily be misinterpreted so I have deleted it. Lebron is my biggest idol. Incredible role model and inspiration,” Berrettini wrote.
Fans point out Matteo Berrettini’s poor choice of emojis and call it a ‘misunderstanding’
Fans over social media understood Berrettini’s sentiments and acknowledged that the Italian didn’t intend to disrespect the basketball legend but also called him out for not being responsible and sane enough to think twice before posting.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)