A ‘creepy’ man has been recorded bizarrely grinning and wobbling his head after nibbling on a boy’s ear at the World Snooker Championship.
South Yorkshire Police have confirmed that they are ‘reviewing’ the footage after it went viral online and raked in more than 22million views by Saturday morning.
Viewers noticed the strange moment in the background of Thursday’s coverage of the World Championship 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 in the background over his left shoulder.
The man, relation unknown, appeared to whisper in the child’s ear before proceeding to nibble on his ear leaving viewers shocked.
A man (top right) was seen biting a boy’s ear during Thursday’s Snooker coverage on the BBC
South Yorkshire Police have confirmed that they are currently reviewing the footage
The boy seemed unfazed as he noticed he could be seen on the live broadcast and then smiled and waved towards the camera as the man pulled back.
The man then realises he is being recorded and breaks out in a cheesy grin before wobbling his head back and forth.
On Friday South Yorkshire Police released a statement which said: ‘Yesterday, Thursday, April 25, at 9.20pm, we received a call to inform us of a video circulating on social media of a man and a boy at the Crucible in Sheffield.
‘We are aware of the footage and officers will be reviewing the content.’
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 in what they had just witnessed.
The fan who originally posted the clip of the incident on social media wrote ‘What the f*** did I just see?!’ with the ‘sick’ emoji.
One user wrote: ‘The behavior by the man in the blue coat is unacceptable. This is super creepy to watch and inappropriate for a father/uncle/friend/stranger to do to a boy of this age.
‘A health check must be performed by the appropriate authorities and the boy to be questioned on whether he has been touched inappropriately.’
‘This is very troubling’, wrote one, while another said ‘I just threw up’.
Another posted: ‘that is absolutely shocking. That poor child. Find this man.’
Many went as far as to argue insist that the boy needed protection and that the man should be arrested.
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