COVID-19: Messi look-alike replaces Barca star on French news bulletin
A famous Lionel Messi look-alike got a ringing endorsement for his similarity to the Barcelona superstar on Saturday when a French TV station mistakenly used his image.
Journalisme 2.0 ne pas reconnaître Messi de son sosie ! Incroyable M6. Une honte 🤦🏻♂️ #m6 #messi #don #sosie 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/9vF7juZPOd
— Nordine8833 (@Chamakh8833) March 28, 2020
In a segment during a Saturday lunchtime news bulletin on how sports stars are making large donations to causes dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, French broadcaster M6 paired Messi with Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer — or so they thought.
They actually used a picture of Messi’s Iranian doppelganger, Reza Parastesh, who came to global attention three years ago and has been bamboozling the public in his homeland — and beyond — ever since. Evidently, M6 are the latest to mistake Parastesh for the Argentina captain and six-time winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Back in 2017 Parastesh, then a student, had to be brought to a police station and had his car impounded because of the commotion he was causing on the streets in the city of Hamadan.
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“Now people really see me as the Iranian Messi and want me to mimic everything he does,” Parastesh told AFP at the time. “When I show up somewhere, people are really shocked.” Years later, those shock waves are still being felt, as M6’s faux pas proves.
This week, Federer donated $1.02 million to the most vulnerable families in his home country, while Messi — as well as Pep Guardiola — utilised $1.08m to help a hospital in Catalonia and a medical centre in his native Argentina.