Creepy man filmed nibbling young boy’s ear at World Snooker Championship, deletes Facebook account

A ‘creepy’ man was recorded bizarrely grinning and wobbling his head after nibbling on a boy’s ear at the World Snooker Championship has deleted his Facebook account after public outrage.

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.

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.

🚨BREAKING: Stefano Voci, the man allegedly caught on live TV inappropriately touching a young boy at a Snooker tournament, JUST DELETED HIS FACEBOOK PAGE ⚠️

FORTUNATELY, WE SAVED EVERYTHING FIRST‼️ STAY TUNED 🔔 pic.twitter.com/fqEhp9BNNq

— Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) April 29, 2024