A “creepy” man has been filmed smiling strangely and shaking his head after nibbling on a child’s ear at the World Snooker Championships.
South Yorkshire Police have confirmed they are “reviewing” the footage after it went viral online, garnering more than 22 million 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 the BBC’s coverage of the afternoon session when the disturbing moment could be seen in the background over his left shoulder.
The man, of unknown parentage, appeared to whisper in the boy’s ear before proceeding to nibble his ear, leaving onlookers shocked.
A man (above right) was seen biting a child’s ear during Thursday’s Snooker coverage on the BBC.
South Yorkshire Police have confirmed they are currently reviewing the footage.
The boy didn’t seem fazed when he noticed he could be seen on the live feed and then smiled and waved at the camera as the man walked away.
The man then realizes he’s being recorded and breaks into a cheesy smile before shaking his head back and forth.
On Friday, South Yorkshire Police issued a statement saying: “Yesterday, Thursday 25 April, at 9.20pm, we received a call to reports of a video circulating on social media of a man and a boy in Crucible in Sheffield.
“We are aware of the images and officers will review the content.”
A World Snooker Tour spokesperson 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 favorites with around 5,000 comments.
Many of X’s users took to the social media site to express their horror at what they had just witnessed.
The fan who originally posted the clip of the incident on social media wrote: ‘What the fuck did I just see?!’ with the ‘sick’ emoji.
One user wrote: ‘The behavior of the man in the blue coat is unacceptable. This is very creepy to see and inappropriate for a parent/uncle/friend/stranger to do to a child this age.
“A medical check should be carried out by the relevant authorities and the child should be questioned if he or she has been touched inappropriately.”
“This is very worrying,” one wrote, while another said “I just threw up.”
Another posted: ‘that is absolutely shocking.’ That poor child. Find this man.
Many went so far as to insist that the boy needed protection and that the man should be arrested.