Antoine Griezmann apologises for social media post which saw him accused of racism

Antoine Griezmann has apologised for his ill-advised tweet on Sunday night.

Griezmann posted a picture to Twitter of himself dressed as a Harlem Globetrotter, painted entirely in black and wearing a wig. "80's party," the Atletico Madrid forward captioned the post which has come in for considerable criticism. Various responses to the tweet accused Griezmann of racism and ignorance, prompting the below comment from the Frenchman.

"Calm down my friends, I'm a fan of Harlem Globetrotters and that beautiful era, this is a tribute."

However the reaction eventually forced Griezmann to delete the picture, as well as the post in which he defended the decision to paint himself black for a fancy dress party. The 26-year-old then apologised to anybody who took offence to the photograph. https://twitter.com/AntoGriezmann/status/942509267436888070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurosport.com%2Ffootball%2Fantoine-griezmann-apologises-for-painting-himself-black-for-picture_sto6448073%2Fstory.shtml "I recognise that this was clumsy from me. If I offended anyone, I apologise," he wrote.