Millionaire CEO goes viral for stealing a hat from a child

Unless you live in Poland, you probably had not heard of Piotr Szczerek before last week, even though he is reported to be a “millionaire CEO.” But you might know him now, or at least his story: he’s the man who snatched a tennis hat from a young fan after a recent match at the US Open.

Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak, after upsetting ninth-seed Karen Khachanov, seemed to hand his signed cap to a young fan. As the boy reached for the hat, Szczerek, who was standing nearby, grabbed it and put it in a bag carried by a woman with him.

The incident was seen on live television and quickly spread across social media. We learned that Szczerek is the CEO and founder of a Polish paving and landscaping company he established in 1999 with his wife. He is deeply involved in tennis, owning a private tennis court at his luxury home and co-owning a tennis pro club. However, users condemned him for his action, calling him “the most hated man on the internet.”

After stealing the cap from the boy, Szczerek doubled down: “The recent incident at the tennis match has caused a disproportionate online uproar. It’s all about the famous hat, of course. Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I’ve always said, life is first come, first served.”

He continued: “I understand that some people might not like it, but please, let’s not make a global scandal out of the hat. It’s just a hat. If you were faster, you would have it.” Sczcerek then threatened legal action against his critics: “I remind you that insulting a public figure is subject to legal liability. All comments, slander, and insinuations will be analyzed for the possibility of taking the matter to court.”

“I would like to unequivocally apologize”

This did not go well for Sczcerek or his company.

His business was “Google-bombed” as its rating plummeted to 1.2 stars, most posted within hours of the incident going viral. The company’s Trustpilot page was also flooded with negative reviews. Trustpilot eventually closed the company’s page to new reviews in response.

After facing days of international condemnation, Sczcerek changed course this week, writing on Facebook:

I would like to unequivocally apologize to the young boy, his family, all the fans, and the player himself. I take full responsibility for my extremely poor judgment and hurtful actions.

The incident had a positive outcome for the young fan. Tennis player Majchrzak, who was initially unaware that the hat had been taken, launched a social media campaign to find him after seeing the viral video. Within days, he successfully connected with the boy and his family, meeting him to present him with a replacement hat and additional US Open merchandise before sharing photos of their reunion on Instagram.

“Be sure your sin will find you out”

Several biblical responses come to mind:

• “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
• “Be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).
• “A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lᴏʀᴅ will be enriched” (Proverbs 28:25).
• “Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household” (Proverbs 15:27).

But there is another biblical principle at work here as well, one that relates not to the sinful action of the CEO but to the timing of his response to the backlash that ensued.

Anyone can make a mistake in the moment. The Polish executive claimed that he thought the hat had been intended for his sons, who had previously requested autographs. But when he realized what he had done, he responded in ways that made his behavior far worse. Only when his company’s finances were threatened did he “unequivocally apologize” for his “extremely poor judgment and hurtful actions.”

No one can read another person’s mind, but how many of us consider his apology to be truly sincere?

“To forgive the inexcusable”

In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis warned that when the Lord returns to our world,

It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.

What is true of the final judgment is also true of this moment. If we apologize for our behavior only after our behavior is exposed, our apology rings with insincerity. If we repent of our sins only to avoid a worse punishment, our repentance is evidence of mercenary motives rather than genuine sorrow and humility.

This is why Jesus taught us to take the initiative in seeking reconciliation, both with someone we have wronged (Matthew 5:23) and with someone who has wronged us (Matthew 18:15). The time to remove a malignancy is the moment it is discovered, lest it metastasize through the body. The time to repent of sin and seek reconciliation with God and others is in the moment we commit that sin. The longer we wait, the worse the damage.

This is just one way the Christian worldview is so countercultural in our secularized society. Relationships in our culture are almost entirely transactional, where we use others to get what we want while they use us to get what they want. When we harm them in some way, we make amends only when we must and in ways that benefit us as fully as possible. We have no context for true forgiveness for our sins, only for using them to leverage a better outcome.

But when Christians truly confess our sins to God and others, our Father forgives all we confess and forgets all he forgives. We are then free to love others who harm us because this is how God loves us. We break the cycle of vengeance and begin a cycle of redemption.

As CS Lewis noted,

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

Whose “hat” have you stolen lately?