The hotel apologises to Virat Kohli, removes people who breached cricketer’s privacy

Perth, Oct 31

Crown Perth hotel has reportedly apologised to charismatic India batter Virat Kohli for the alleged breach of the player's privacy by a fan, who took a video of the cricketer's room while he was playing the ICC T20 World Cup Super-12 game against South Africa here on Sunday evening.

Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma reacted strongly to the alleged breach, with the former India skipper posting a video on Instagram -- which was originally posted on another social media app by an unidentified user with the caption, 'King Kohli's hotel room' -- and saying, "I'm NOT okay with this kind of fanaticism and absolute invasion of privacy."

The short video scans through the room where Kohli was staying.

The hotel apologised "unreservedly" to Kohli and said it had removed the individuals involved in the act.

"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, according to perthnow.com.au.

"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," said the statement.

Kohli wrote on Instagram after noticing the breach of privacy, "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 added.

Anushka, too, took to social media to express her anger over the alleged video of the hotel room, saying, "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 parega (if you are a celebrity, you have to deal with such things)!', should know that you're also part of the problem.

"Exercising some self-control helps everyone. Also, if this is happening in your bedroom, then where is the line?" Anushka questioned.

Reacting to Kohli's post, actor Urvashi Rautela said on her verified account, "Absolutely!! Immoral, unscrupulous imagine they did same with a girl's room #unprincipled #dishonourable," while Australian batting stalwart David Warner wrote, "This is ridiculous, totally unacceptable. Was this @crownperth (name of the hotel)."

--IANS