‘Creepy’ man grins and wobbles his head after nibbling on a boy’s ear at the World Snooker Championship – as police continue to review bizarre viral clip of the incident
A ‘creepy’ man has been recorded bizarrely grinning and bobbing his head after nibbling a boy’s ear during the World Snooker Championship.
South Yorkshire Police have confirmed they are ‘reviewing’ the footage after it went viral on Saturday morning and has been viewed more than 22 million times.
Viewers noticed the strange moment in the background of Thursday’s World Cup coverage at The Crucible in Sheffield.
Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was speaking during a break in play in BBC’s coverage of the afternoon session when the disturbing moment could be seen over his left shoulder in the background.
The man, whose relationship is unknown, appeared to whisper in the child’s ear before nibbling on his ear, leaving viewers shocked.
During BBC Snooker coverage on Thursday, a man (above right) was seen biting a boy’s ear
South Yorkshire Police have confirmed they are currently assessing the footage
The boy seemed unfazed when he noticed he was featured during the live broadcast, smiling and waving at the camera as the man retreated.
The man then realizes he’s being recorded and breaks into a goofy grin before bobbing his head back and forth.
On Friday, South Yorkshire Police released a statement saying: ‘Yesterday, Thursday 25 April at 9.20pm, we received a call informing us of a video circulating on social media of a man and a boy at the Crucible in Sheffield .
‘We are aware of the images and officers will assess the contents.’
A spokesperson for the World Snooker Tour said on Friday: ‘We are aware of this incident and it is now a police matter.’
The viral video has 72,000 likes and 15,000 bookmarks with around 5,000 comments.
Many of the X users took to the social media site to express their horror at what they had just seen.
The fan who originally posted the clip of the incident on social media wrote, “What the hell did I just watch?!” with the ‘sick’ emoji.
One user wrote: ‘The behavior of the man in the blue jacket is unacceptable. This is super creepy to watch and inappropriate for a father/uncle/friend/stranger to do this to a boy this age.
“A health check should be carried out by the appropriate authorities and the boy should be questioned as to whether he was touched inappropriately.”
“This is very disturbing,” one wrote, while another said: “I just threw up.”
Another wrote: ‘that is absolutely shocking. That poor child. Find this man.’
Many even went so far as to claim that the boy needed protection and that the man should be arrested.