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17th Dec 2017

Antoine Griezmann accused of racism after posting fancy dress image on Twitter

Simon Lloyd

French international footballer Antoine Griezmann has attracted criticism after posting an image of himself in a fancy dress outfit on his Twitter account.

Captioned ’80s party’, the image shows the Atletico Madrid star dressed as a basketball player. His decision to make his skin appear black angered many of those who saw it.

The tweet, which was later deleted, soon attracted plenty of tweets asking for it to be deleted. Elsewhere, some Twitter users went as far as suggesting the outfit was ‘racist’; others described it as ‘ignorant’.

https://twitter.com/EdieWine/status/942494246065590272

https://twitter.com/craicdealerfc/status/942496951601389569

Before deleting the tweet, Griezmann later posted a further message, urging his followers to calm down.

‘I’m fan of the Harlem globetrotters and the good times,’ he explained. ‘It’s a tribute.’

Griezmann, who was ranked at 18th during last week’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, came close to a move to Manchester United in the summer only for it to collapse when Atletico Madrid were hit with a transfer ban.