A flabbergasted former Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Monday denounced the “absolute invasion” of his privacy by a fan, who shot a video of his hotel room and put that in public domain.
In the video, titled ‘King Kohli’s Hotel Room’, a man is seen walking around the room showing Kohli’s personal belongings such as health supplements, collection of shoes, his opened suitcase that contained India jerseys, caps and a pair of glasses on his table. It appears that more than one person, possibly members of hotel staff, were inside the room when the video was shot.
Kohli re-shared the video, that went viral on social media, on his Instagram account along with a message, saying he is not okay with such kind of “fanaticism”.
Hours after India’s defeat to South Africa in the Super 12 stage of the ICC World T20 2022, Kohli shared an angry post about the invasion of his privacy at the Indian team hotel. Taking to Instagram, Kohli revealed that his privacy was invaded at a hotel room in Australia by an unknown person.
“I understand that fans get very happy and excited seeing their favourite players and get excited to meet them and I’ve always appreciated that. But this video here is appalling and it’s made me feel very paranoid about my privacy,” Kohli wrote.
“If I cannot have privacy in my own hotel room, then where can I really expect any personal space at all?? I’m NOT okay with this kind of fanaticism and absolute invasion of privacy. Please respect people’s privacy and not treat them as a commodity for entertainment,” the former Indian skipper added.
Later the hotel said that the person had been removed from the group.
Taking cognisance of Kohli’s post, Australian opener David Warner questioned the security standards of the luxurious hotel in the wake of the incident. “This is ridiculous, totally unacceptable. Was this @crownperth,” Warner said. Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma has also reacted to the viral post on the photo and video-sharing platform.
“Have experienced a few incidents where some fans have shown no compassion or grace in the past but this really is the worst thing. An absolute disgrace and violation of a human being and anyone who sees this and thinks celebrity ho toh deal karna padega should know that you are also part of the problem. Exercising some self control helps everyone. Also, if this is happening in your bedroom then where is the line?,” Anushka wrote.
Australian opener David Warner too expressed anger at the incident.
“This is ridiculous, totally unacceptable. Was this @crownperth?,” Warner commented on Kohli’s post.
Virat and Anushka had requested the media to abstain from publishing the pictures of their daughter, Vamika, in January this year after the images of the infant were shown by the broadcaster during India’s tour of South Africa.