Bollywood actress Esha Gupta, who is also Arsenal club ambassador has been called out on social media for making racist remarks on Nigerian footballer Alexander Iwobi. Snapshot of her Whatsapp conversation that Esha shared on her Instagram stories was doing the rounds on the internet. The conversation criticized Iwobi for his performance.
In the conversation, Esha's friend called Iwobi a "gorilla" and said, ''Solves our winger issues. I can't see that gorilla faced Iwobi running down the flank again. He's so bad ya''.
To that, Esha replied: "Haha... I don't know why they don't bench him more."
This did not go down well with some fans, who slammed her for her "ignorance" and called her out for being racist despite having claimed she herself has been a victim in the past.
After the backlash, Esha took to Twitter to apologise. "Guys I am sorry you thought it was racist. Was bad on my part, being a sports lover. Sorry guys, forgive the stupidity," she tweeted.
She said she did not realise it was directed towards racism. "It was us discussing our frustration during the game. Sorry as I didn't realise it was directed towards racism. Laughed over the spur of the moment, which was the game's result guys. Been a victim of racism myself before. But this is not something I am proud of. It was a fault, sorry guys," she added.
(With IANS inputs)
