Bollywood Actress Under Fire After Comparing Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi To Gorilla

Published: January 28, 2019

Bollywood actress Esha Gupta has been slammed after her racist comments on Nigerian Arsenal footballer Alexander Iwobi went viral over social media sites.

Esha, an avid Arsenal supporter and an ambassador of the English Premier League side, criticized Alex Iwobi’s performance in the club’s recent game on a Whatsapp conversation with her friend which she later shared as an Instagram story.

How do you feel about an Arsenal brand ambassador making these racist comments about an Arsenal Academy graduate? @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/Dfcpvl58mF

— Chris (@LondonGoona) January 27, 2019

“Solves our winger issues. I can’t see that gorilla faced Iwobi running down the flank again. He’s so bad ya,” read the screenshot, which according to IANS, was written by Esha’s friend. As a reply, Esha typed out: “Haha… I don’t know why they don’t bench him more.”

Following the criticism on Instagram, Esha took to Twitter to apologise for her words.

https://twitter.com/eshagupta2811/status/1089554196267978754

She tweeted:

”Guys I am sorry you thought it was racist. Was bad on my part, being a sports lover. Sorry guys, forgive the stupidity.”

She later clarified her words during the Whatsapp conversation as out of frustration and that she failed to realize that it was directed towards racism.

https://twitter.com/eshagupta2811/status/1089567069908160517

She tweeted:

“It was us discussing our frustration during the game. sorry as I din realise it directed towards racism. laughed over the spur of the moment, which was the games result guys. been victim of racism myself before. But this is not something m proud of. It was a fault, sorry guys.”