Hyderabad: Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar has taken to Instagram to support football player Cristiano Ronaldo. The actor slammed the trolls who have criticised Ronaldo for his performance in the FIFA World Cup.
“This is a @cristiano Ronaldo appreciation post. This guy has given his life to the game, set standards of skill, athleticism and fitness that most sportspeople can only fantasise about. It’s so easy to tear someone down in a moment when they stop behaving like robots and display human emotion (sic),” a part of the note read.
After Farhan shared the post, several netizens bashed the actor online for supporting Ronaldo, who is accused of rape. It is to be noted that Farhan has founded the initiative MARD (Men Against Rape And Discrimination).
“As the founder of the Men Against Rape and Discrimination initiative and a UN Women Goodwill ambassador, surely you are aware that Cristiano Ronaldo has been credibly accused of rape and violating the consent of a woman? This is quite disappointing coming from you (sic),” commented a user. “You set up MARD and then celebrate a rapist. Disappointing but not surprising tbh (sic),” said another user.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of rape by his ex-girlfriend Kathryn Mayorga. The American model has claimed that the soccer star had raped her in a nightclub in Las Vegas in 2009. Ronaldo had also allegedly paid $375,000 to Kathryn as an out-of-court settlement. The story came out in 2017, after the famous #MeToo movement took over social media.