Mumbai, Jan 28 (IANS): Actress and Arsenal supporter Esha Gupta has been called out on social media for making racist remarks on Nigerian footballer Alexander Iwobi.

The social media was abuzz as a snapshot of a Whatsapp conversation that Esha shared on her Instagram stories. The conversation criticised Iwobi for his performance.

In the conversation, Esha's friend called Iwobi a "gorilla" and said that "evolution stopped for him".

To that, Esha replied: "Haha... I don't know why they don't bench him more."

This did not go down well with some fans, who slammed her for her "ignorance" and called her out for being racist despite having claimed she herself has been a victim in the past.

After the backlash, Esha took to Twitter to apologise.

"Guys I am sorry you thought it was racist. Was bad on my part, being a sports lover. Sorry guys, forgive the stupidity," she tweeted.

She said she did not realise it was directed towards racism.

"It was us discussing our frustration during the game. Sorry as I didn't realise it was directed towards racism. Laughed over the spur of the moment, which was the game's result guys. Been a victim of racism myself before. But this is not something I am proud of. It was a fault, sorry guys," she added.