WARSAW, Poland (Chatnewstv.com) — A Polish CEO is facing fierce backlash online after being caught on camera snatching a hat meant for a child from tennis player Kamil Majchrzak during a match.
The man, identified as Piotr Szczerek, head of the paving company Drogbruk, was seen in a viral clip grabbing the hat directly out of Majchrzak’s hand as it was being passed to a young boy in the crowd.
The incident, which quickly spread across social media, drew outrage from fans and sparked a flood of negative reviews for Szczerek’s company on Polish business forums.
“This is unbelievable. A grown man stealing from a child just for a souvenir? Shameful,” one commenter wrote on GoWork, a Polish workplace review site. Others called him a “thief,” “jerk,” and “embarrassing.”
The boy, identified as Brock, was left empty-handed in the moment despite his efforts to catch Majchrzak’s attention. After the clip went viral, the Polish tennis player personally reached out to meet the boy and gave him an autographed hat.
Majchrzak later shared the encounter on his Instagram story, writing that he “didn’t realize Brock didn’t get the hat” and wanted to make things right immediately.
Szczerek, a millionaire businessman, defended himself in a since-deleted post on GoWork, saying the outrage was overblown.
“Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I’ve always said, life is first come, first served,” he wrote. “It’s just a hat. If you were faster, you would have it.”
He went on to warn critics about “legal liability” for insults and slander directed at him online, adding: “In the end, chin up, hats off, less venom, more sportsmanship.”
His remarks only fueled further criticism. By late Sunday, Drogbruk’s rating on GoWork had plunged to 1.4 out of 5 stars, with hundreds of negative reviews posted in the span of hours.
Szczerek’s social media accounts have since been deleted.
Watch the video of the incident here:
