Funeral home workers were fired after taking photos with soccer star Diego Maradona’s dead body before his funeral Thursday.
Claudio Fernández, his son Ismael, and Claudio Medina were fired from the Pinier funeral home after the photos were widely circulated on social media, the Associated Press reported. The images sparked outrage and death threats from people who admired Maradona, an Argentinian soccer star who died from a heart attack Wednesday at the age of 60. (RELATED: Maradona’s earring sells for $36,400 at auction)
The coffin of Diego Maradona lies in state inside the presidential palace in Buenos Aireshttps://t.co/IrfW6GIgvG
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In one of the pictures, Fernández and his son were standing next to the body, which was in the coffin. Ismael was smiling and raising his thumb, according to the report. Another picture shows Medina next to the body, also smiling with his thumb raised.
“It was something instantaneous,” Fernández told Radio Diez. “I’d just raised my head and my son did it like any kid of 18.”
Fernández, who lives in the El Paternal neighborhood where Maradona debuted in 1976, said that he’s been receiving threats from his neighbors.
“They know me,” he said according to the report. “I’m from the neighborhood. They say they are going to kill us, break our heads.”