A Lionel Messi lookalike from Iran who was accused of using his appearance to con 23 women into sleeping with him has denied the allegations and said he never did something like that.
Reza Parastesh from Iran has an uncanny resemblance with the world-famous football players, Lionel Messi. He looks so like Messi that his native people call him Iranian Messi.
Marca first reported the news in 2019 when Parastesh was first accused of using his looks to seduce women who believed him to be the Argentinian superstar.
“It all started two years ago when his father asked him to pose in Messi’s Barcelona shirt, with the photo quickly going viral before Parastesh earned the nickname ‘fake Messi,’” wrote Marca.
“Due to the similarity between the two, Parastesh even cut his hair and grew his beard like the Barcelona captain, thus increasing his likeness to Messi.”
However, Reza, the Fake Messi, took to his Instagram and denied all the accusations saying,
“Hi friends, a piece of false news about me is trending on social media with regards to me sleeping with 23 women because they thought I was Lionel Messi. Please do not play with people’s reputation and credibility.”
“We are all aware of the fact that if it actually happened to anyone, there would be some complaints and it would lead to my prosecution. That would be a disaster and a calamity of international proportion. If this news was true, I would be in jail right now,” he said.
“Do not believe it, it is not true. I am going to do everything to fight this legally and make sure my name is cleared.”
The 26-year-old said the whole thing had destroyed his reputation because everyone believed he used Messi’s disguise to sleep with women. Reza learned about the news from Twitter when his friends and neighbors started questioning him.
“The news is spreading in the Muslim countries and it has been a disaster,” Mr. Parastesh added. “I was severely harassed because it released the whole world on me. My family also harassed me, but the people’s attack was more influential.”
Reza used his resemblance to Messi as a tool to promote himself on social media and he has over 1 million followers on his Instagram account.
He regularly shares photos and videos on his account and sometimes copies the poses and styles of Messi to make his posts similar to the football legend.
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Source: Instagram
