After days of shame on social networks, Piotr Szczerek, the executive director of a Polish paving company that was captured in video snatching a hat from a tennis player to a child in the US Open, issued an apology in what seems to be the official social networks accounts, stating that he returned the hat to the child.
Key data
Szczerek published a statement on Monday morning in what seems to be the Facebook and Instagram pages of Drugbruk, his paving company, recognizing that his viral incident of the theft of the hat was a “serious mistake”, according to a Google translation.
“I was convinced that the tennis player was happening to me, for my children, who had previously asked me autographs,” said Szczerek, referring to Kamil Majchrzak, the Polish tennis player who handed his cap to a child.
Szczerek apologized to the boy and his family and said he had already returned his hat.
Szczerek said that other supposedly his statements, some of which have become viral on social networks, are not authentic.
What happened to the viral incident of the theft of the hat?
A Szczerek video apparently snatching a hat from Majchrzak, who had just won a five -set match, went viral online. In the video, Majchrzak takes off his hat he was wearing and offers it to the child before Szczerek, who was standing next to the child, snatches it. Majchrzak confirmed to the New York Post that the man in the video is Szczerek, who, according to him, sponsored the Polish Tennis Federation. Majchrzak said there was “some kind of confusion” and that initially he did not realize that Szczerek had taken his hat, suggesting that he was “acting at the time of heat, at the time of emotions.” Majchrzak posted on his Instagram on Sunday that he met the boy after the incident and gave him gifts, including a new hat.
Tangent
Szczerek was ridiculed online after the incident. An X publication, which received more than 150,000 “like”, described Szczerek as “selfish” and accused him of stealing a child a memorable moment. Szczerek’s company received numerous criticisms on several platforms. In Yelp, Drogbruk has an average rating of an star, with more than 100 reviews of a star during the weekend. The company also has an average 1.4 -star rating on the Tustpilot review platform. The controversy of Szczerek captured by the camera generated some comparisons in line with the viral incident of the “Kissed Chamber” of the Coldplay concert, in which Astronomer’s executive director, Andy Byron, was caught hugging a woman who was not his wife and was an employee of her company. Byron and the employee quickly jumped from the frame, but the incident went viral and caused byron’s resignation.
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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