Polish Millionaire/US Open Villain Piotr Szczerek Has Finally Apologized For Ruthlessly Snatching Away a Player's Hat Meant For a Kid In The Crowd

By now, unless you've been kidnapped for the last week, you've absolutely seen the viral US Open hat stealer. This man was revealed to be a millionaire from Poland who is the CEO of a company called Drogbuk. The story had a happy ending where the kid who got to meet the player Kamil Majchrzak and receive a bunch of signed merch on top of that. Following the moment going viral, a supposed statement came out from the CEO seemingly doubling down on the moment and not apologizing. This was picked up by everyone and caught fire. 

Turns out it came from a fake lawyer or something, and was not true. Hand up, I guess I should have suspected that since the statement was so over the top ridiculous it was made up, but part of me wanted to believe there was a true super villain out there. Yesterday an actual apology appeared on his company's Instagram page. This is translated from Polish. 

Due to the situation that happened during Kamil Majchrzak's match at the US Open, I would like to
clearly apologize to the injured boy, his family, as well as all the fans and the player himself. I have made a huge mistake . In emotions, in the crowd rejoicing after the victory, I was convinced that tennis player tips his hat in my direction - to my sons who have asked for autographs earlier. To misconception caused me to pull out my hand Today I know I did something what
looked like a deliberate collection of the child's souvenir. This was not my intention, but it doesn't change the fact i hurt the boy and disappointed the fans.
The hat was given to the boy, and apologies to the family. I hope. Just Partly i have repaired the hurt that has been done.
I also want to make it clear, neither myself, nor my wife, nor my sons have commented on this situation. on social media as well as on any portal. We have not used the services of any office legal in this regard. All alleged statements appearing online are not ours by.
For years, my wife and I have been engaged in helping children and young athletes, but this situation has shown
I think that one moment of disregard can ruin years of work and support. It hurts for me, but a needed lesson in humility. That's why I will be even more actively involved in initiatives supporting children and adolescents and
action against violence and hate. I believe that only through actions can rebuild what has been lost
trust.
Again, I'm sorry to anyone i disappointed. Please understand - for my family's sake, I decided to turn off the option
comments on this post.
Yours truly
Peter Szczerk 

I mean sure, it's an apology but it doesn't excuse the insane behavior of clearly ripping it away from the kid. Does his business necessarily deserve to tank now because he's an asshole? 

(source) Users on Polish forums called the CEO a "thief," while Drogbruk saw its Trustpilot rating fall sharply to 1.1 stars. Some even said that he and his company should be banned from joining the sports events or sponsoring anything related.

Even on Google, the company received just 1.2 stars from 592 reviews. One review read, "The CEO of this company doesn't have any morals; stealing from children and then defending himself in public. Don't ever do business with this company."

Another read, "Top-level management steal from children in broad daylight, then laugh about it. Definitely not someone to do business with under any circumstances (sic)."

Maybe not now that the original super villain statement was fake. That would have been all-time if he leaned into it like that. Through his statement the guy seems sorry, but that may very well only be since he got caught on live TV. At least the kid won at the end of the day.