By Tom Morgan
Australia’s Josh Cavallo has hit out Spanish goalkeeping great Iker Casillas, who was accused of stoking homophobia after a prank message appeared on his Twitter account stating he was gay.
World Cup winner Casillas, who retired in 2020 after a distinguished career with Real Madrid and Porto, has since apologised and claimed his account was hacked.
No context had been provided in a seven-word post that remained on the 41-year-old’s social media account for more than an hour on Sunday (Monday AEDT).
“Espero que me respeten: soy gay. #felizdomingo,” the message said. The direct translation of the tweet was: “I hope you respect me: I’m gay. #happySunday.”
Some immediately questioned online whether the statement was genuine, but former Real teammate Carles Puyol appeared to be in on the joke, posting a message translated as: “It’s time to tell our story, Iker.”
However, as the messages were deleted amid reports in Spain the claims were a prank, gay rights groups expressed dismay.
Iker Casillas and (inset) Josh Cavallo. Credit:Getty, Adelaide United
Adelaide United player Cavallo, who last year became the first professional men’s footballer to come out while still playing, responded by saying “joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing”.
“It’s a difficult journey that any LGBTQ+ people have to go through,” tweeted the A-League Men’s star. “To see my role models and legends of the game make fun out of coming out and my community is beyond disrespectful.”
Immediately after Casillas had tweeted, a slew of homophobic and disparaging responses began appearing in his replies.
Peter Tatchell, a prominent anti-discrimination campaigner, told the London Telegraph: “If this was intended as a joke, it is in very bad taste. It’s an insult to genuinely gay footballers to masquerade as gay for some kind of sick fun and thrill.
“If it was a sincere coming out and he was pressured to say it was all a joke, that’s pretty damning. It reinforces the closet and shows the power that homophobia still wields in football.”
Casillas claimed he was hacked about 2½ hours after the initial tweet. “Hacked account,” he wrote. “Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community.”
