Former RTÉ pundit Joe Brolly underfire for 'body shaming' darts wonderkid Luke Littler
The former RTÉ pundit has claimed that Littler was "born different" to other athletes
Former RTÉ pundit Joe Brolly has come under strong fire for comments he made about darts wonderkid Luke Littler in the Sunday Independent at the weekend.
The 16-year-old captured the hearts of many on his recent journey to the PDC World Darts Championship final, where he was beaten 7-4 by Luke Humphries.
In Brolly's Sunday Independent column he stated "like David Clifford or Maradona or the Baby Jesus, Luke Littler was born different."
Further to this comment the former pundit went on to say: "He is the only person in history born with a beer belly, a ‘Mum’ tattoo and three kids. The young chap looks as though he was created in a laboratory by a mad scientist using DNA from Phil Taylor and a buxom barmaid. If you bought a lego set called ‘Darts Player’ and assembled it, you would get Luke Littler."
A post with the column to his twitter has gained a huge amount of back-lash with over 515 people commenting on the post.
One user said "That's poor from you, Joe. Don't know what point you're trying to make in bodyshaming a 16 year old."
While another posted: "I agree with you on most things, but you're crossing a line here in my opinion. Body shaming is never a good look."
A third said: "Can’t agree there with you Joe the young fella has made a living off something he loves doing he can always lose weight if he wants to for now let him enjoy doing what he likes to do." Joe replied to this comment, saying, "Weird, read the article."