CEO Who Snatched Tennis Player's Hat From Kid At U.S. Open Speaks Out To Apologize

Piotr Szczerek became the internet's latest super villain a few days ago thanks to a viral video showing him snatching a tennis player's hat from a young fan.

Szczerek, the CEO of Polish paving company Drogbruk, was shown wresting the hat that tennis player Kamil Majchrzak had autographed for the boy at the U.S. Open, sparking major outrage.

The moment is downright mean-spirited, and the boy's crestfallen face as Szczerek and his companion appear to laugh during the incident as they shoved the hat into a bag had people furious.

Now, Szczerek has spoken out to apologize for what he had said was a mistake and a misunderstanding.

In a post on Facebook, Szczerek claimed that is was not his "intent to steal away a prized memento from the young fan."

"I became caught up in the heat of the moment and the joy of the victory, and I believed Majchrzak was handing a hat to me to give to my sons, who had previously asked for autographs."

That is not at all what the footage seems to show, however.

In the video, Szczerek appears to be waiting for the exact moment Majchrzak finished signing the hat so he could snatch it away at precisely the right moment, smiling the entire time.

The young boy can also be seen pleading with Szczerek to give the hat back, which Szczerek clearly ignores.

It's pretty hard to square the visuals with Szczerek's claims. Nevertheless, he apologized profusely.

Szczerek wrote:

"I would like to unequivocally apologize to the young boy, his family, all the fans, and the player himself..."

"...Regardless of what I believed was happening, the actions I took hurt the young boy and disappointed the fans."

Szczerek went on to say that he had sent the autographed hat back to the boy, and pledged to up the ante on the years-long charity work he says he and his wife have done to "support children and young athletes."

He also claimed that social media comments attributed to him and his wife, in which they doubled down on the incident and threatened to sue those criticizing them, were fake.

Given the disconnect between the video and Szczerek's version of events, not many people were buying his apology.

But the story does have a happy ending, at least for Majchrzak and the boy in question.

After the incident went viral, Majchrzak reached out to his Instagram followers to see if they could help him identify the boy.

It worked, and the player did a meet-and-greet with his young fan, at which he snapped photos with him and gifted him a replacement hat for the one that was taken from him.

Their meet-up has definitely warmed the internet's hearts.

It's so easy to just not be an insufferable jerk. More people should try it!