Celebrity2 min(s) read
Published 16:25 29 Nov 2020 GMT
A funeral worker who took a selfie next to the open casket of football legend Diego Maradona has apologized and begged for forgiveness after losing his job and receiving death threats.
The BBC reported yesterday that Claudio Fernández was pictured alongside the body with his son and that a third man appeared in his own photograph.
Maradona passed away on Wednesday at his home in Tigre, near Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
Photographs of the funeral workers with Maradona's body surfaced online as the 60-year-old lay in repose at the presidential palace, causing worldwide outrage.
Maradona's lawyer, Matías Morla, vowed to take action against "the scoundrel" for taking the photographs with the deceased football legend.
In an interview with Radio 10 cited by the New York Post, Fernández said that his decision to take the photograph was "something instantaneous."
"My son, like every kid, raised his thumb and they took the photo," he said. "I know that many people have been offended, they have taken it badly."
The funeral worker explained that he has even received death threats as a result of the incident.
"They say they are going to kill us, break our heads," he said.
Matías Picón, the manager of the Sepelios Pinier funeral parlor, said Fernández was one of three "outsourced employees."
He told the TN news channel that he was "devastated" by the photographs of his workers with the late football player.
The funeral company had been working with the Maradona family for a long time, which made the photographs all the more devastating.
"The family has total confidence in us, that's why we are so affected," he said.
"My father is 75-years-old and he is crying, I am crying, my brother too, we are destroyed."
As per the BBC, a preliminary postmortem on Maradona suggested that he died as a result of "acute heart failure".
Following the news of the 60-year-old's death, many of the biggest stars in the football world have paid tribute to the Argentinian.
England striker Gary Lineker said Maradona was "by some distance, the best player of my generation and arguably the greatest of all time".
