Antoine Griezmann's Blackface Photo Sparks Outrage, Atlético Madrid Forward Apologizes

French soccer player Antoine Griezmann came under fire Sunday after he posted a photo of himself blackface as part of a fancy dress costume. The Atlético Madrid forward was criticized, with some calling him racist, following which he issued an apology.

"I recognize that’s it’s insensitive on my part. If I offended some people I’m sorry," Griezmann wrote.

The photo, which was posted on Griezmann's social media accounts, shows the star with his face painted black as part of an NBA party costume. He is seen wearing a wig and holding a basketball in the photo which had "NBA 69 ALLSTARS" on the jersey. The photo on his official Twitter account was accompanied by the message "80’s Party" followed by basketball and laughing emojis.

Soon after posting the photo, Griezmann was slammed, following which he deleted the post. Griezmann posted a tweet telling people not to over-react to the picture, saying: "Calm down guys, I’m a fan of the Harlem globetrotters and the good times… It’s a tribute."

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham. U.K., was among those to criticize Griezmann.

"There are so, so many different options for an 80s party, or a night out at the darts for that matter, that don’t involve blackface," he tweeted. "I can’t believe we’re out here in 2017 saying don’t dress up in blackface."

The incident comes less than two days after a man at the Darts World Championship was pictured dressed up as Labour MP Diane Abbott, with a bookmaker tweeting out the blackface image on Saturday.

Piers Morgan quickly gave his take on the situation, quote-tweeting Griezmann's image along with the caption: "And Overseas Racially Insensitive Imbecile of the Year goes to."

"Shame on Griezmann. Shame on Atleti and the FFF for not providing proper anti-racist training. Shame on us all for creating a football culture that tolerates this behavior," Mikey Franklin wrote.

According to Fox Sports, Griezmann is expected to be moved by Atlético Madrid to another Spanish squad, FC Barcelona. He has also been rumored to be pursued by the English Premier League club Manchester United.