French soccer star Antoine Griezmann deletes blackface PHOTO on Twitter after being accused of racism

Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann has caused outrage on social media after posting a photograph of himself blackface as part of a fancy dress costume.

The Manchester United target, who came close to joining the Old Trafford club in the summer before having a change of heart, posted the photo on his Twitter account, with the caption “80s Party” with a basketball emoji and a laughing emoji.
He was dressing up as an NBA allstar basketball player. 80’s Party 🏀🤣 pic.twitter.com/TtIVlCkrfd — Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) December 17, 2017
Calmos les amis, je suis fan des Harlem globetrotters et de cette belle époque... c’est un hommage ✌ — Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) December 17, 2017

The responses were mostly negative with many of his followers urging the striker to remove the photo immediately and delete the post. Griezmann posted a follow-up tweet telling people not to over-react to the picture, saying: “Calm down guys, I’m a fan of the Harlem globetrotters and the good times… It’s a tribute.” The 26-year-old soon deleted the picture and issued another tweet to apologise to anyone who was offended by it, adding that he understands "it was wrong" to do so.