Raymond van Barneveld has blasted Luke Littler after the 17-year-old darts sensation ignored his text messages.
Little ones has taken the sport by storm, bursting onto the scene at the World Championships last year, already won three Pro Tour titles and participate in Premier League.
The teenager previously revealed to adore Van Barneveld during his performance but recently gave him the cold shoulder, leaving the latter unhappy.
“So that’s the weird thing about it,” Van Barneveld said when asked about Littler’s admiration for him.
‘I understood then that I am his example. I can understand that you don’t chat at the World Cup, but other tournaments… The other day I went up to him to shake his hand.
Raymond van Barneveld (L) blasted Luke Littler (R) after the teenager ignored his messages
The 17-year-old has previously revealed that he idolized Raymond van Barneveld when he was coming up
“Then he took the earplug out for a moment and said only the bare essentials.”
Van Barneveld then took it upon himself to send a message to Litter, who ignored it.
‘To that he replied: yes, I only answer text messages. I’m not actually on Whatsapp. Okay, I sent a text: congratulations on Wieze, Van Barneveld added.
‘And then nothing. Lived. Then I’m also a little done with it. Next time I’m asked if I want to do something for him, I’ll pass.
“I understand you get thousands of texts, but of course I’m not just anyone. If I’ve been your inspiration for years, I expect a text back too.”
Laughing, Van Barneveld said: ‘Dude’s on his phone all day, f*** off!’
Littler suffered a first round defeat on night eight of the Darts Premier League in Dublin on Thursday.
The PDC has also confirmed that Littler will no longer compete in the Nordic Masters on 7 and 8 June.
Littler has withdrawn from the event due to family commitments and will be replaced in Copenhagen by UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh.
