credit: Salt Bae on Instagram
In the world, some objects are so precious that only a few people can lay their hands on them, though everyone is free to lay their eyes instead. Examples of such objects include the famous painting Mona Lisa. The painting is so legendary that touching it would feel like touching centuries-long history. Another item that is so precious that only a few people can even have access to it is the coveted Miss Universe crown. The pageant crown is always great, glimmering, and expensive, only to be bestowed on the head of the best of the women of the universe. It is not everybody can wear such a crown. And speaking of crowns, the said crown is the only crown that commoners can have the chance to wear (if you happen to win the competition), as most crowns are on top of the heads of the royalties and will never happen to be passed onto yours.
Today, we will look at the story of yet another great item that is along the lines of the Miss Universe crown. That object is not a crown physically but symbolizes the best among those who fought to obtain it. And that object is the World Cup trophy, and the hands worthy to touch it are those who fought bravely, valiantly, and excellently against the world, aiming for the said prize as well. It is not for undeserving hands. It is not for the hands of the losing teams’ captains; it is not for the hands mine; it is not for the hands of yours; it is not for the hands of a chef with over-expensive items who gained popularity with memes, even!
Salt Bae and his hands on the World Cup trophy
The World Cup brought many exciting events and discussions among the online community. These range from a bit lighthearted ones, yet related to the sporting event, like how Morocco defeated the Iberian Peninsula back-to-back. Then there are the more serious ones, like the possible human rights abuses during the construction of the World Cup stadiums in Qatar and the corruption among FIFA’s ranks.
Then after the dust had settled and a victor was declared after a lot of matches. The South American country of Argentina defied all odds and emerged as the winner of this edition’s World Cup. However, now we think that the controversies with it are over, Nusret Gökçe, also known online as Salt Bae, took the spotlight by getting his hands on the prized trophy. Photos of him holding it surfaced online.
credit: Salt Bae on Instagram
FIFA declared Salt Bae’s appearance on the scene as “undue access”
After the incident, the FIFA, or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the governing body over the World Cup, declared that the chef’s entry was unlawful and that they would take appropriate action. Though the course of the action remained unspecified.
In Associated Press, FIFA stated that the trophy was intended only for “a very select group of people, which includes former winners of the FIFA World Cup and heads of state.” And clearly, Salt Bae did not fit any of those criteria for holding the trophy. The governing body also stated that they were now looking into the matter, questioning how he got through the securities.
However, that was not the first time the chef got into boiling water. He had committed many questionable and outrageous things in the past, so much so that his Wikipedia page has a dedicated section for those. We will run over a few of them below.
In September 2018, after pouring an unidentified liquid on a fire, his whole bar caught up in flames, causing some tourists to suffer severe bodily burns, including a Czech tourist, Týnuš Třešničková.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, his restaurant in Boston was shut down after not complying with the pandemic health protocols. It seemed that this man had a dangerous lifestyle and sometimes put other people in it.
And oh, of course! Let’s not forget his expensive food items, like this one posted on Reddit and this Twitter post that showed an enormous charge of 630 pounds for a steak.
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