'Made a Horrible Mistake, I'm Truly Sorry': Ankur Warikoo Apologises to Prithvi Shaw After Bodyshaming on Twitter

Content creator and entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo has apologised for body-shaming Indian batter Prithvi Shaw on social media. The latter is currently in the United Kingdom, featuring in the Royal London Cup for Northamptonshire where he recently scored a double hundred. However, he became the target of some uncharitable social media trolling for his weight gain and receding hairline after his celebration pics surfaced on social media.

Warikoo was among those who cracked jokes at the cricketer’s expense. Commenting on Shaw’s picture, Warikoo wrote, “Bet his mom thinks he has lost weight.”

The tweet didn’t go down well among the fans as they called it in bad taste. Meanwhile, a few netizens highlighted that Shaw had lost his mother at a young age, making Warikoo’s comment look more insensitive.

Later, Warikoo issued an apology for his previous tweet, stating that he had attempted to invoke his own mother’s reaction to his fitness levels in his 20s.

“I realize my mistake after people’s responses. This pic is Prithvi Shaw’s who lost his mother at the age of 4. Which makes my post extremely insensitive and not something I am proud of. In an attempt to invoke my mom’s natural reaction to my fitness levels in my 20s, I made a horrible mistake,” Warikoo tweeted.

He further tagged Prithvi and wrote, “@PrithviShaw I do not expect you to read this or least of all forgive me. But it is my responsibility to apologize for this. I am truly sorry. For clarification – I do not follow cricket actively, so I was not aware of Prithvi (beyond his name). Would have acted differently was I aware of him and his history.”

Warikoo ended the tweet with a post script, reading, “PS: Not deleting this post, so that this continues to act as a reminder to me.”

Prithvi had smashed 244 runs off 153 balls while playing for Northamptonshire against Somerset in the 50-over competition in the United Kingdom. Playing his third game in the tournament, Shaw reached his maiden hundred for the side off 81 balls. This was his ninth List A century, and first since his 165 against Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinal when he led Mumbai to lift the title in 2020-21.