Arsenal fans call for the removal of Esha Gupta as Arsenal’s club ambassador Esha Gupta after she racially abuses Alex Iwobi.
Arsenal lost in the fourth round of the FA Cup to Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium last week.
Alexis Sanchez, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial were among the goalscorers for the visiting side as Arsenal’s FA Cup campaign ended in a 3-1 loss.
Esha Gupta, a Bollywood actress/model who’s also the club ambassador for Arsenal, posted a WhatsApp conversation following the loss in which she shared a racially abusive message for one of the club’s player, Alex Iwobi.
Gupta, in the conversation, received messages which compared Iwobi’s face to a ‘gorilla’, further calling him a ‘neanderthal.’
“Solves our winger issues. I can’t see that gorilla faced Iwobi running down the flank again,” the message read.
“It’s like evolution stopped for him. Didn’t change from neanderthal to man,” her friend added.
The actress reacted funnily to the racially abusive messages in the conversation. However, she further posted the screenshot of the chat on her Instagram story which sparked controversy on social media.
After fans began to call her out for blatant racism, Esha Gupta posted an apology on Twitter.
“Guys m sorry you thought it was racist,” Gupta wrote.
“Was bad on my part, being a sports lover. Wallah never meant it. Sorry guys forgive the stupidity.
“It was us discussing our frustration during the game. Sorry as I din [didn’t] 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.”
However, Gupta didn’t seem to be welcoming to people calling her out for racism, as she blocked various accounts who accused her.
The fans have now begun to urge the club to remove her from the position of an ambassador for Arsenal.
