Dilip Kuner
BARCELONA football sensation Lamine Yamal has gone from superhero to pantomime star after a cheeky street art prank turned his mural into a scene straight out of Snow White – complete with seven dwarfs.
The 18-year-old wonderkid, dubbed the next Messi (much to the horror of Barcelona’s PR team), found himself in hot water after his birthday bash was gatecrashed by controversy. The teenager reportedly celebrated in style with dwarfs and scantily-clad women brought in for ‘entertainment’ – a move that sparked outrage and calls for legal action.
To mark his milestone birthday, a huge mural of Yamal dressed as Superman was painted in Plaza Joanic by famed urban artist TV Boy.
But just days later, anonymous vandals decided to give the piece a not-so-subtle upgrade – stencilling the Seven Dwarfs around the star, in what looked like a savage dig at his questionable party planning.
The fairytale-themed graffiti quickly went viral, with locals snapping pics of ‘Super-Yamal and the Seven Dwarfs’ before the mural was hastily restored by an unidentified artist.
Yamal has remained tight-lipped about the dwarf drama, but Spain’s Association of People with Achondroplasia and Other Skeletal Dysplasias (ADEE) isn’t laughing. The group has threatened legal action, accusing the player of using people with dwarfism as mere party props and slamming the whole affair as ‘degrading and unethical’.
However, radio station RAC1 interviewed someone claiming to be one of the entertainers at Yamal’s party. He defended Yamal and was critical of the ADEE association’s response.
Meanwhile, on the pitch, the teenage prodigy is continuing to impress. On tour in South Korea with Barcelona, he’s dazzling fans and leaving defenders in his dust.
Club president Joan Laporta is doing his best to keep the focus on Yamal’s football rather than his Snow White sideshow, hailing him as ‘the best player in the world in his position’ – but being careful not to throw around the Messi comparison too loosely.
“Lamine Yamal is Lamine Yamal. Leo Messi was Leo Messi,” Laporta diplomatically told CNN.
Click here to read more Barcelona News from The Olive Press.
