Joe Cullen branded darts fans ‘n**heads’ in a social media post (Image: Getty)
Joe Cullen branded darts fans “n**heads” after exiting the in dramatic fashion on Friday night. The Englishman was beaten by in an Alexandra Palace epic.
Cullen was criticised earlier in the tournament for being extremely short with Sky Sports interviewer Abigail Davies on the Ally Pally stage. The 35-year-old is believed to have been irked by Davies predicting he would exit the competition in the early rounds.
He also stormed out of a press conference and he claims he has suffered abuse from rowdy fans.
After losing 4-3 against Price, Cullen posted a series of photos to . The first image showed him hunched over with a frustrated expression.
“Well that was an eventful way to end 2024! The first picture sums up how I feel after the loss Friday night. I worked so hard on & off the board to get myself in the best possible shape going into the worlds,” Cullen wrote in the caption.
“Gutted to lose another classic like that but if anything, after the year I’ve had, it’s restored my belief that I know where I belong. Plenty of hard work ahead to get back to where I want and know I should be!! I’d fallen out of love a bit with the game this year but the fire was back for the Worlds so it’s my job to keep it there.
“Thanks [to] all my fans for the support this year. Also thanks to all the keyboard (bell emoji), your jealousy and ‘abuse’ is brilliant motivation, so keep it coming n**heads.”
Cullen took aim at journalists earlier in the tournament, claiming that he was motivated by “nonsense” written about him in the build-up to the Ally Pally event. He abruptly left a press conference after defeating Wessel Nijman and referenced his opponent’s previous ban for match-fixing.
Gerwyn Price defeated Joe Cullen in the World Darts Championship (Image: Getty)
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“I’ve struggled this year on the oche and off the oche so to find a performance like that. To be honest I’ve got you guys to thank because I don’t think I would have played like that if I had read some of the nonsense that I read beforehand,” he said.
“Honestly, the media attention that Wessel’s got, again, this is not a reflection on him, he seems like a fantastic kid, he’s been caught up in a few things beforehand, but he’s served his time and held his hands up like a lot haven’t.
“So I think the way I’ve been treated, probably, with the media and things like that… I know, obviously, you guys have no control over the bookies, but I’ve been shown no respect. So I won’t show respect to any of you guys tonight. I’m gonna go home, cheers.”