London - Former England rugby player Brian Moore is being accused of homophobia after publishing a Gary Glitter joke on social networking site Twitter.
The 49-year-old - who is currently a rugby presenter and pundit on the BBC - has received much criticism after he retweeted the post: “Apparently Gary Glitter is the new Aston Villa manager…. He heard the strikers are Young, Bent and possibly Keane, boom boom.”
Almost immediately, the post sparked questions.
The Justin Campaign, which works against homophobia in football, asked Moore to publicly apologise for what they described as “a vile homophobic joke’.
But Moore refused, saying: “I will not apologise for your misinterpretation and disgusting insinuation”.
Lindsay England, freelance activist, campaigner and author of the Just a Ball Game blog, said the message was inappropriate.
“Words which once again stigmatise an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community with the links to homosexuality and pedophilia.
“Many young LGBT’s who struggle at an early stage with personal understanding and acceptance of who they are in the world themselves, will only too likely then shy away from ‘coming out’ and being at least active if not fully engaged in participating in sport because of the fear of ridicule and isolation and abuse that goes with the above mentioned so called ‘banter, bit of a laugh, leg pulling, name calling, casual homophobia.”
The 49-year-old - who is currently a rugby presenter and pundit on the BBC - has received much criticism after he retweeted the post: “Apparently Gary Glitter is the new Aston Villa manager…. He heard the strikers are Young, Bent and possibly Keane, boom boom.”
Almost immediately, the post sparked questions.
The Justin Campaign, which works against homophobia in football, asked Moore to publicly apologise for what they described as “a vile homophobic joke’.
But Moore refused, saying: “I will not apologise for your misinterpretation and disgusting insinuation”.
Lindsay England, freelance activist, campaigner and author of the Just a Ball Game blog, said the message was inappropriate.
“Words which once again stigmatise an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community with the links to homosexuality and pedophilia.
“Many young LGBT’s who struggle at an early stage with personal understanding and acceptance of who they are in the world themselves, will only too likely then shy away from ‘coming out’ and being at least active if not fully engaged in participating in sport because of the fear of ridicule and isolation and abuse that goes with the above mentioned so called ‘banter, bit of a laugh, leg pulling, name calling, casual homophobia.”