Antoine Griezmann has apologised after sparking a Twitter backlash by posting a picture of himself dressed as a black basketball player.
The Atletico Madrid and France forward's initial tweet, which he has since deleted, captioned "80's Party,'' showed Griezmann in a Harlem Globetrotters-like uniform with heavily darkened skin and an afro-style wig.
Je reconnais que c'est maladroit de ma part. Si j'ai blessé certaines personnes je m'en excuse.
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) December 17, 2017
After a string of angry responses, Griezmann returned to Twitter to post: "Calm down friends, I'm fan of the Harlem globetrotters and the good times... it's a tribute. ''
More than 20 minutes after that post, he added: "I recognise it is clumsy on my part. If I have hurt anyone, I apologise.''