Man Bites Young Boy's Ear At World Snooker Championship / Stefano Voci Investigation

Overview

Man Bites Young Boy's Ear At World Snooker Championship or the Stefano Voci Investigation refers to a controversy surrounding a viral video clip of a man sensually biting a young boy's ear from behind while in the crowd at the 2024 World Snooker Championship at Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The video, which shows the man leaning over the child from behind and nibbling on his ear, followed by the kid waving at the camera, went viral on social media in late April 2024 and gained viral spread as some viewers attempted to find the identity of the man. Reportedly, a police probe was launched to investigate the video following its virality. Later that month, internet sleuths began to suspect a man named Stefano Voci as the culprit, however, these claims are unsubstantiated, unconfirmed and speculative as of April 2024.

Background

On April 25th, 2024, X^[1] user @AindriuJ posted a clip of the 2024 World Snooker Championship recorded from the TV, writing, "Wtf did I just watch…..," in which a man in the crowd appears to lean over a child, who turns his head away, then lightly bites the boy's ear. The boy waves at the camera and smiles and the man smiles as well, bobbing his head from side to side. The post gained over 4,600 likes in five days (shown below).

Wtf did I just watch….. pic.twitter.com/5giLLNCC02

— Aindriú Jax (Ragnar Lodbrok) (@AindriuJ) April 25, 2024

Developments

The video gained viral spread over the following days, with some attempting to find the identity of the man in the video, presuming him to be an alleged predator for the weird moment.

For example, on April 26th, 2024, X^[2] user @TaraBull808 shared the video, writing, "WTH is this? They need to find this PED0 and lock him up," garnering over 46,000 likes and 18,000 reposts in four days. Facebook^[3] user Stinson Hunter shared the story that day, garnering over 1,600 reactions and 270 shares in the same span of time.

Later that day, the same X^[4] user shared an enhanced, close-up image of the ear biter, writing, "Enhanced photo. Police are looking for this man. Will keep updating," garnering over 113,000 likes and 24,000 reposts in four days (shown below). That same day, it was reported by several news outlets, including The Sun,^[5] that police were "reviewing" the footage. On April 27th, the Yorkshire Post^[6] reported that police were investigating the situation.

Purported Message From Stefano Voci

On May 2nd, 2024, X^[11] user @PammySixxSUKA posted a screenshot of a Facebook post purportedly by Stefano Voci in which he claims that the video depicts him showing affection to his son and that it is being taken out of context, writing that the child has "never been touched" (shown below). The authenticity of the post is unconfirmed.

Online Presence

Identity Speculation

On April 29th, 2024, rumors and speculation began spreading on social media claiming that the man in the video is allegedly named Stefano Voci, based on a purportedly since-deleted social media page for the man. The claims were made by Diana Wallace and Matt Wallace.

That day, Diana Wallace made a post to X^[7] sharing a screenshot of Voci's Facebook page and profile picture, writing, "Stefano Voci appears to have started deleting all of the evidence from his profile," garnering over 37,000 likes in a day (shown below). The post was shared by X^[8] user @MattWallace888, garnering over 76,000 likes in the same span of time.

That same day, Matt Wallace posted a video to Rumble^[9] sharing this information, claiming that X^[10] user @luvvpill3d helped with the amateur investigation. The video shows several photographs of Voci as alleged evidence that he is the same man. They also share a number of posts purportedly reposted by Voci that depict phallic objects, including a photo that purportedly shows the same boy, although again, this is unconfirmed. The video gained over 95,000 views in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References