Virat Kohli left fuming after fan breaks into his hotel room and videos his belongings
Star cricketer Virat Kohli has been left fuming after footage emerged of fans finding their way into his hotel room during the T20 World Cup.
The Indian took to social media to slam a video that appears to show an overzealous fan walking through his Perth accommodation.
The video is captioned ‘King Kohli’s Hotel Room’ and shows the stranger filming every belonging that is neatly organised inside the apartment.
Virat Kohli has shared disturbing footage of what appears to be strangers recording a video in his hotel room.
— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) October 31, 2022
📸 Instagram/virat.kohli#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Cq9Dr2uzWc
A second person was also in the room but the video doesn’t show either participant's face.
The batsman took to Instagram to share his anger at the situation with his 221 million followers.
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He wrote: “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."
The incident happened at Crown Hotel in Perth, who have apologised to Kohli and the Indian cricket team, saying the ‘contractors’ involved in the incident have been stood down and removed from the Crown account.
They said in a statement: “We unreservedly apologise to the guest involved and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure this remains an isolated incident.
"We unreservedly apologise to the guest involved and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure this remains an isolated incident," a Crown Perth spokesperson said in a statement.
"We have zero tolerance for this behaviour, and it falls well below the standards we set for our team members and contractors.
"Crown took immediate steps to rectify the issue, including launching an investigation, standing down the individuals involved and removing them from the Crown account.
"The original video was also swiftly removed from the social media platform.
“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 our investigation.”
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) October 31, 2022
An unknown person entered Virat Kohli's hotel room and recorded a video of his personal belongings, Virat is furious and has asked fans to request players' privacy.
Horrible indeed. #T20WorldCup
Absolutely ridiculous that someone took an entire Instagram reel of Virat Kohli’s hotel room without him knowing and even being there. Like wtf. It’s a complete invasion of privacy.
— Andre Borges (@borges) October 31, 2022
Absolute props to him for speaking with restraint, I’d have been absolutely livid pic.twitter.com/kNI7cmQPy9
This is horrendous and extremely disturbing. https://t.co/FAs88nErnR
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) October 31, 2022
The International Cricket Council also released a statement, saying: “The ICC is incredibly disappointed by the gross invasion of privacy suffered by a member of the Indian travelling party at the Crown Perth, during their team’s pre-event preparation ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
“We continue to work with event hotels and security providers to ensure that this remains an isolated incident and player privacy is fully respected at all times.”
Kohli and his Indian team suffered a four-wicket loss to South Africa on Sunday (October 30).
They currently sit second in group two of the Super 12 stage after playing three games.
Jayden Collins