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#Post#: 32412--------------------------------------------------
Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: Plagosus Date: March 4, 2026, 11:50 am
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See here for full details:
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/04/manchester-united-jack-fletcher-given-six-match-ban-for-homophobic-slur
As I gay man I am somewhat conflicted by this.
The headline says: “Manchester United’s Jack Fletcher given
six-match ban for homophobic slur.” Later on we read: “Fletcher
admitted the charge, with both the opponent and the FA
regulatory commission accepting he did not wish to be
intentionally homophobic.”
Several questions arise:
Is it possible to be unintentionally homophobic?
The words uttered were “gay boy”. While Jack was clearly not
offering a compliment, the words are not intrinsically
homophobic. Can context make them homophobic?
If the society you live in accepts that it is fine to be gay can
asserting that someone is gay ever be a slur?
I am of course happy for the footballing authorities to take
affirmative action against homophobia, but I cannot help feeling
that the lengthy ban has been given not only to send a message
to footballers but also to wave a flag indicating that something
is being done to tackle homophobia.
#Post#: 32413--------------------------------------------------
Re: Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: PJ Franklin Date: March 4, 2026, 3:47 pm
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The match referree's judgement was that Fletcher's "gay boy"
was both intentional and a slur. And I agree with that. Mr.
Fletcher was forced by his
employer, Manchester foorball club to issue an apology to the
press, the content of which to me is not at all credible, but it
will have to suffice. The suspension
and fine are nothing compared to the vast amount of money
Manchester pays him to kick footballs, not slur other players on
the pitch. So, then there's the problem
of why Manchester, or for that matter, any professional sports
club on any continent (or most anyway) care at all. And that
boils down to public relations. I doubt
Mr. Fletcher has learned anything except maybe that pissing off
one's source of enourmous income is probably not in his best
interests. I am equally as sure that
his slurring is not going to stop privately if not in public. Am
I cynical about this issue, oh yes, I am.
PJ
#Post#: 32437--------------------------------------------------
Re: Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: Plagosus Date: March 7, 2026, 12:42 pm
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If you Google "homophobic slur" the AI Overview comes up with
the following: "A homophobic slur is a derogatory, insulting
word or phrase used to degrade, marginalize, or express hatred
toward individuals based on their real or perceived sexual
orientation, typically targeting gay, lesbian, or bisexual
people."
If we use that definition we can ask two questions:
· Is "gay boy" a derogatory, insulting word or phrase?
· Did the footballer use the phrase to degrade, marginalize, or
express hatred towards to gay people?
​There are three meanings of "gay" we can consider:
​· Cheerful and carefree. (Positive)
· Homosexual. (Neutral)
​· A slang word meaning something like "definitely not
cool". (Negative)
​I think we can safely say that the first definition was
not in the footballer's mind.
As to the second, possibly. What reason would the footballer
have had though to literally suggest in the middle of a football
match that another footballer was gay? It is of course not quite
that simple. The footballer may entertain the idea that being is
on a par with being a cheat, liar or fraud. If you say someone
is a cheat, liar or fraud that is a slur. Asserting someone is
gay ought not to be a slur if you consider there is nothing
wrong with being gay, but what if you consider calling some is
gay to be an insult? These days any sensible famous straight
person called gay will shrug it off asserting s/he does not have
a problem with being called gay. If they sued for libel they
would be taken to task by the gay community.
As to the third, see here
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay#Generalized_pejorative_use<br
/>which indicates a lack of agreement on how the pejorative use
should be regarded.
Only those who know the footballer will have any idea what his
intention was. The fact that those imposing the penalty
considered he did not wish to be intentionally homophobic
suggests they considered the third definition came into play. I
do though have a bit of a problem with the concept of
"unintentional homophobia". It strikes me as approaching a
contradiction in terms like "unintentional violence". In any
event, they seem to have accepted that there was no intention to
degrade, marginalize, or express hatred towards gay people,
which, if the definition quoted above is accepted, means there
was no homophobic slur.
#Post#: 32438--------------------------------------------------
Re: Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: Zyngaru Date: March 7, 2026, 2:10 pm
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I love these thought-provoking debates. The only person who
would know for certain if the footballer's phrase was actually a
slur or not would be the footballer, because it has to do with
intent, not necessarily the words said.
I thought gay was the proper way to address someone who is
homosexual. Evidently it is not.
Now here in America if the player of whatever sport were to be
Black. My term instead of African-American. I hate hyphenated
nationality labels. Either you are African or you are America.
Make a choice. BUT if the player had been Black and you said
"BOY", especially here in the southern United States you would
probably have found yourself in a fight. Calling a Black person
"Boy" is considered racist. Yet calling a white person Cracker
is not racist? HMMMMM.
Everyone here knows I am Asexual, so I have to base my comments
on what I see from the outside looking in.
I do know that within groups there is a lot of liberty taken
with how people within their group address each other, without
offense taken. Where if someone from outside that group said
exactly the same thing in the same tone and everything, it would
be offensive and could lead to fisticuffs.
So, in my opinion, unless it was obvious that this footballer
was speaking with the obvious intention to using a slur, then I
would take it is a no-nothing and move on.
#Post#: 32443--------------------------------------------------
Re: Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: afinch Date: March 9, 2026, 6:40 pm
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I think the world has truly gone insane. If anybody calls
someone else a m_therf__ker, especially if that person happens
to be Eddie Murphy, that is a compliment. The use of the N word
in rap songs is constant and AOK, but people who are hysterical
about "gay boy" also want to have To Kill a Mockingbird and
Huckleberry Finn rewritten to suit their current tender
sensibilities.
Sondheim wrote a song in 1971 called "You Could Drive a Person
Crazy"--it had a lyric, sung by three women who are furious that
the protagonist won't commit to them, which went:
"I could understand a person
If it's not a person's bag
I could understand a person
If a person was a fag..."
Subsequently changed to a drag. Then to "If he's set to go
away...if he actually was gay." And then with a female Bobbie,
because diversity...if "she's set to go away." Then "If she
said to go away..." which makes no sense at all to the context
of the song. It's all very silly, like the kerfluffle over
Timothee Chalamet's comments about opera and ballet this
weekend. I disagree with him, but with the world burning around
us, it is hardly a subject I think should take up much of any of
our bandwidth, including a friend who is a performance manager
at the Metropolitan Opera.
#Post#: 32447--------------------------------------------------
Re: Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: PJ Franklin Date: March 10, 2026, 6:43 am
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[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=3690.msg32438#msg32438
date=1772914250] I thought gay was the proper way to address
someone who is homosexual. Evidently it is not. [/quote]
It is the proper way. I don't understand where in the thread it
is said that it is not. Oh well! :) ... but more than just
that. It was not that the phrase "gay boy" was said, it was
clearly the derogatory tone it was said in that made the
referree take notice, nothing else in my mind.
[quote author=afinch link=topic=3690.msg32443#msg32443
date=1773099624] It's all very silly, like the kerfluffle over
Timothee Chalamet's comments about opera and ballet this
weekend.
[/quote]
So, here are his comments: In a conversation with Matthew
McConaughey, Chalamet said, "I don't want to be working in
ballet, or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this
thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.'
All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there". There
are many other ways dear Timothee could have said that he
chooses not to engage in themes that involve ballet or opera.
Personally I don't care about opera either, but I love ballet. I
can easily imagine that in upcoming awards shows that writers
are going to capitalize on his comments in some sort of sketch
comedy in involving him as a way to apologize. Maybe he sings
opera while a ballet troop around him are prancing about.
PJ
#Post#: 32448--------------------------------------------------
Re: Footballer banned for homophobic slur
By: Plagosus Date: March 10, 2026, 12:33 pm
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[quote author=PJ Franklin link=topic=3690.msg32447#msg32447
date=1773143033]It was not that the phrase "gay boy" was said,
it was clearly the derogatory tone it was said in that made the
referree take notice, nothing else in my mind.[/quote]
​As I said above, I think we can safely say that the first
definition (cheerful and carefree) was not in the footballer's
mind.
"You're a cheat" is derogatory but not homophobic.
The question is in what circumstances can "You're a gay boy",
which is not intrinsically derogatory or homophobic, be
considered either.
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