Crown Perth, the hotel where the Indian men’s cricket team was staying for the match against South Africa, has issued an apology after Virat Kohli complained of a privacy breach.
Notably, a day after India lost to South Africa by five wickets, Kohli shared leaked footage of his room on his official Instagram account, which was recorded without his consent. The video captured Kohli’s belongings – his suitcase lying open and his other kinds of stuff. Kohli, expectedly so, was not happy as he then penned a note stating that such behaviour is completely unacceptable.
“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. 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,” Kohli wrote in his post.
Following the buzz, the hotel has now issued a statement in which they have apologised to the former India skipper and informed that the individuals responsible for the act have been fired. The hotel also said they are conducting an investigation with the third-party contractor and will take necessary steps to ensure such kind of incident does not happen again.
“We are aware of an incident involving a contractor and the privacy of a guest at Crown Perth. The safety and privacy of our guests is our number one priority, and we are incredibly disappointed this incident has occurred. We unreservedly apologise to the guest involved and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure this remains an isolated incident,” the hotel stated in a release.
“We have zero tolerance for this behaviour, and it falls well below the standards we set for our team members and contractors. Crown has taken immediate steps to rectify the issue. The individuals involved have been stood down and removed from the Crown account, and the original video was swiftly removed from the social media platform. Crown is conducting an investigation with the third-party contractor and will take any further steps necessary to ensure an incident of this nature does not happen again. We are also cooperating with the Indian Cricket team and the International Cricket Council to convey our apologies and will continue to work with them as we progress the investigation,” the release added.
