Iniesta issues apology after uploading controversial 'blacked-up' photos

The Barcelona legend caused fury after posting a picture to his 27.4million Instagram followers showing how he was celebrating Feliz dias de Reyes – a festive Christian tradition in Spain.

Iniesta's post was meant to commemorate the arrival of the three kings Balthazar, Mechior and Gaspar at the birth of Jesus.

Balthazar is historically depicted as being black.

In Iniesta's photo, two people have darkened their skin colours and after receiving heavy criticism online, his advisers have released a statement.

Reported by Goal, it read: "On January 6, Andres Iniesta's family received the visit of the Three Kings at his house and decided to photograph himself to share this image with his fans on the player's social networks.


"The presence of the Three Kings belongs to the culture of our country, rooted for many years with which we want to celebrate the most magical day of the year with our children and is a tradition that the Iniesta Ortiz family repeats every year.

"We want to settle the controversy that has arisen around this picture in which the three people dressed and characterised with make-up appear as the Kings of the East, Gaspar, Melchior, and Baltasar, as happens in most cavalcades and events that were celebrated in Spain that day.

"At no time did Andres Iniesta want to bother anyone with that photograph, which is the image of the illusion in Spain and apologises to those people who may have been offended."

Atletico Madrid star and fellow World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann caused similar outrage when he 'blacked-up' as a Harlem Globetrotter in December 2017.

And just last month Dundee United star Jamie Robson apologised for dressing up as an African salesman.

Source: Read Full Article