Josh Cavallo Slams Football Legend Iker Casillas Over ‘I Am Gay’ Tweet
Image: Josh Cavallo (left) and Iker Casillas. Images: Facebook
Out gay Australian footballer Josh Cavallo has slammed former Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas and former Real Madrid captain Carles Puyol for “joking and making fun” about coming out in football.
Casillas had tweeted ‘I am gay’ over the weekend, before deleting it and claiming his social media account had been hacked.
Adelaide United player Cavallo had come out as gay in October 2021, and is the first active male professional footballer at the elite level to come out.
‘I’m Gay’ Tweeted
Cuenta hackeada. Por suerte todo en orden. Disculpas a todos mis followers. Y por supuesto, más disculpas a la comunidad LGTB. 🙏
— Iker Casillas (@IkerCasillas) October 9, 2022
Casillas, is considered by many to be one of the “greatest goalkeepers of all time”. On Sunday, October 9, 2022, Casillas’ official Twitter account posted “I hope you respect me: I’m gay #HappySunday” in Spanish.
Casillas has previously dated Spanish beauty pageant winner and actress Eva González and was married to sports journalist Sara Carbonero, with whom he has two children. He split from Sara last year.
The post received over 200,000 likes in less than an hour. Initially, many of his fans and other social media users praised him, appearing to think he was coming out. There were many homophobic comments as well on the post.
Other social media users speculated he might be joking. Former Real Madrid captain Carles Puyol, responded to Casillas’ tweet and commented “”It’s time to tell about us, Iker” in Spanish, along with the kissing heart emoji.
… And Deleted
A section of the media speculated that Casillas’ tweet might have been a sarcastic post in response to rumours about his relationships with different women after his break up with Sara.
Within a few hours Casillas’ tweet was deleted and he posted a fresh message on Twitter. “Hacked account. Luckily everything is in order. Sorry to all my followers. And of course, my apologies to the LGBT community,” said Casillas.
Puyol deleted his comment to the original tweet as well and issued an apology to the LGBTQI community.
“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,” posted Puyol.
Coming Out Is A Difficult Journey, Says Josh Cavallo
@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 pic.twitter.com/Yp88aQyyTV
— Josh Cavallo (@JoshuaCavallo) October 9, 2022
Many Twitter users slammed both players over their tweets, especially as it seemed to use a very LGBTQI experience of coming out for cheap laughs.
Among those who took to social media was footballer Cavallo, who has in the past spoken about how difficult it was as a young footballer to come out as gay.
New Footage Shows The Moment Josh Cavallo Came Out As Gay To His Adelaide United Teammates
“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,” said Cavallo.
UK-based LGBTQI fan group, Pride in Football, described Casillas and Payuol’s tweets as “misjudged, ill-timed and disappointing.”
Jokes At The Expense Of The Community
— Pride in Football 🏳️🌈⚽️ (@PrideinFootball) October 9, 2022
“We should not be seeing “jokes” at the expense of others in 2022, or ever, period. The homophobic reaction on the back of that tweet is not okay,” the group said in a statement.
Pride in Football said that the fact that the tweets, just a month from the football World Cup to be held in November in Qatar, a country that prosecutes gay people, was hurtful to the community and damaging to other gay footballers, who were still in the closet.
“High profile sports stars joking about that exact thing is damaging to people in the community,” said the group, adding, “Damage to the LGBT+ community, and future damage to the culture that is making it difficult in the men’s game for people to be open about their sexual orientation. In recent months, we have seen three male professional players share who they are with us all, let’s hope the consequences of this tweet don’t make other male professional footballers think they can’t share who they are.”
