Gay footballers have condemned Spanish football legends Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol for allegedly making fun of the LGBTQ+ community with 'fun tweets'.
World Cup winner Casillas had tweeted that he was gay and later deleted it. His teammate Carles Puyol had responded on Twitter, also pretending to be gay.
While neither of the players has endorsed or denied the content of their tweets, the Spanish media had come out saying those were merely reactions to rumours surrounding Casillas' alleged relationship with a popular female actor following the recent separation from his wife.
Gay footballer Josh Cavallo was one of the first to express his disappointment. "@IkerCasillas and @Carles5puyol joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing. It’s a difficult journey that any LGBTQ+ ppl have to go through. To see my role models and legends of the game make fun out of coming out and my community is beyond disrespectful," tweeted Cavallo.
Last October, Cavallo had become the first active male professional footballer from Australia to come out as gay.
Netherlands' women's national team player, Merel van Dongen, who is also a gay footballer, tweeted: "I hope you respect me: I'm sick of homophobia. #YouCanCountOnMe"
Account hacked, says Casillas; Puyol owns up
With online protests mounting over the tweets, Casillas said his Twitter account was hacked. "Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community," tweeted Casillas.
Meanwhile, Puyol did not claim that his account was hacked, rather the former Barcelona captain admitted his mistake.
"I have made a mistake. Sorry for a clumsy joke with no bad intentions and totally out of place. I understand that it may have hurt sensitivities. All my respect and support for the LGTBIQA+ community," tweeted Puyol.