Famous footballer caught up in a homophobic saga, forced to apologise

Famous footballer and former Real Madrid goalie, Iker Casillas has been caught up in an online homophobic saga.

Casillas has been forced to apologise after a post on his Twitter account read, “I hope you respect me: I’m gay”.

Shortly after, his former Spain teammate, Carlos Puyol, replied “it’s time to tell our story.”

The entire thread was was live for more than an hour before being deleted.

In an open apology, Casillas claimed his account was hacked.

“Hacked account,” the tweet said. “Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community.”

Puyol also posted an apology for what he called a “clumsy joke.”

The tweet reads, “I have made a mistake. Sorry for a clumsy joke which had no bad intentions but was totally out of place. I understand that it may have hurt those sensitive. All my respect and support for the LGTBIQA+ community.”

Before the post was removed, Adelaide United player Josh Cavallo, who came out as gay last October, criticised the incident.

“Joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing,” he said.

He added, “it’s a difficult journey that any LGBTQ+ people 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.”

Casillas and Puyol played on opposite sides of El Clasico as Real Madrid and Barcelona captains, respectively. But the two were regularly teammates in the Spanish national team.

They are both now retired.