Morgan Freeman Mistaken for Mandela on Indian Memorial Billboard

The owner of a billboard in India dedicated to Nelson Mandela felt embarrassed on Thursday after finding out it was Morgan Freeman, who played Invictus that was featured in the poster campaign instead of South Africa's first black president.

Chandrashekhar, a cloth merchant from Chennai, south India who paid for the tribute erected by the side of a road in Coimbatore as a memorial and mark of respect to the anti-apartheid hero has since realised the board mistakenly bears the picture of a Hollywood film star.

The mistake had been made by a designer and would be rectified according to Chandrashekhar: “We will replace it with the correct picture of Mandela.” he said.

According to Telegraph, Morgan Freeman has unwittingly been at the centre of various gaffes since the former president’s death, with some Twitter users making the same mistake as Mr Chandrashekhar and sharing Mr Freeman’s picture on the day of Mr Mandela’s death.

[RELATED: NELSON MANDELA AMONG GOOGLE'S MOST SEARCHED IN 2013]

This latest image was shared by hundreds of bemused Twitter users some of which were still unable to distinguish between the two men.

The billboard also features Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi, read: "We should be proud that we were part of an era when they lived."