Cricketer Virat Kohli has revealed that he experienced a breach of privacy while he was in Perth, Australia for the T20 World Cup. He made the revelation with an Instagram post on Sunday after India finished their leg of the tournament in Perth with the match against South Africa.
The video had originally been uploaded on TikTok by an unknown user and shows the person giving a walkthrough of the room with the caption ‘King Kohli’s hotel room.’
Virat shared the leaked video on his Instagram handle as a post and said it made him feel “paranoid about his own privacy.” Calling the video “appalling”, he wrote in the caption, “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.”
He went on to ask, “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.”
His wife, actress Anushka Sharma too condemned the incident and shared a note on Instagram Stories. Calling it an “absolute disgrace,” she wrote, “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? (sic)”
In response to the breach, the hotel, Crown Towers, has apologised for the incident and said that “the individuals involved have been stood down and removed from the Crown account.”
“We unreservedly apologise to the guest involved and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure this remains an isolated incident,” the hotel said in a statement. They added, “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,” they concluded in their statement.