Bollywood actress Esha Gupta writes apology letters to Iwobi and Arsenal over racist remarks

BOLLYWOOD actress and Arsenal fan Esha Gupta has written an apology letter to Nigerian winger Alex Iwobi expressing her remorse for the tasteless remark she made on her Instagram page comparing him with a gorilla.

Last month, while criticising Iwobi for his performance in a Premier league game, Ms Gupta shared a piece on her page in which one of her friends called Iwobi a gorilla, saying that evolution stopped for him. She came under severe criticism from all quarters after sharing a racist remark and quickly deleted the post but her followers had been quick to take a screenshot of it.

After the incident, Ms Gupta quickly posted a hastily written apology but that too fell on deaf years as Twitter users and Arsenal fans continued to slam her. With pressure mounting on her, ms Gupta has now decided to write to both Iwobi and Arsenal, asking the midfielder to forgive her for her careless action.

Ms Gupta wrote: “I am extremely sorry for my ignorant action last Friday. Being an ardent fan of many years, I was deeply engrossed and caught up in the game.”

"I cannot begin to imagine how much I have hurt your sentiments. Racism has absolutely no place in my heart and I promise you, for whatever its worth, going forward this will never happen again.”

In her letter to Arsenal FC, Ms Gupta wrote: “I hope the club can accept my humblest apology and give me the opportunity to make amends. I promise to be very responsible from here on.”

On January 28, the original message said that Iwobi did not change from Neanderthal to man during evolution to which Ms Gupta laughed and replied: “Haha, I don’t know why they don’t bench him more.”

This did not go down well with many users and Arsenal fans who slammed her for her ignorance. They subsequently called her out for being racist despite having claimed she herself has been a victim in the past.