Gay teammate defends swimmer after `gay slur'

[Dan82]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225915023579

Olympic gold medal-winning diver Matthew Mitcham has defended fellow champion Stephanie Rice from accusations of homophobia.

Rice, who has been linked with Wallabies star Quade Cooper, acknowledged the Australian rugby union team's last-gasp victory early on Sunday morning by tweeting on the online network Twitter: "Suck on that faggots. Probs the best game I've ever seen!! Well done boys."

She later removed the comment and apologised for it.

"I made a comment on Twitter on Saturday night in the excitement of the moment," Rice said in a statement yesterday.

"I did not mean to cause offence, and I apologise. I have deleted it from the site."

Former rugby league star Ian Roberts, who is gay, took Rice to task, calling her an "idiot", but Mitcham, who is also gay, said Rice would not have intended to offend the homosexual community.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225915023579

It is no big deal.

She called the South African Rugby Team a bunch of faggots.

I called them worse that during the Australia - South Africa test match.

[Revan]

It's called getting into the hype of the moment duh.

[Emberstone]

still, some thoughts belong unexpressed in the public forum.

[starfish]

Originally Posted by Emberstone

still, some thoughts belong unexpressed in the public forum.

There are inside words and outside words. Sometimes inside words slip outside.

That said it is kind of funny. I'm going to have to use it next time I play a game with my homos.

[Emberstone]

The only people I will accept the f slur from is people who tourettes, and people bumming a ciggerette.

she used it as a slur. thats where the issue is for me. She used it in a durogatory way.

hardly a slip up. she typed it out and clicked send. she made the conciouse choice. it isent like a news caster slipping up on live tv. she thought it, typed it, sent it.

Who cares.

She said something wrong but she has apologised of removed the comment.

I really can't blame her anyway, her boyfriend is the fly-half for the Australian team and emotions were running high after the game. Her gay teammate knows her better than all of us and he doesn't really care so I don't see why any of us should.

[Revan]

Originally Posted by Emberstone

The only people I will accept the f slur from is people who tourettes, and people bumming a ciggerette.

she used it as a slur. thats where the issue is for me. She used it in a durogatory way.

hardly a slip up. she typed it out and clicked send. she made the conciouse choice. it isent like a news caster slipping up on live tv. she thought it, typed it, sent it.

Even though she isn't gay let me ask you. If I became a celebrity, and got very hyped up and used the F word in public, would you say I was in the wrong even if I was openly gay to the public and the media?

[Just Adam]

Originally Posted by Revan

Even though she isn't gay let me ask you. If I became a celebrity, and got very hyped up and used the F word in public, would you say I was in the wrong even if I was openly gay to the public and the media?

i actually think if your gay its worse using the f word.. as you should be more appreciative how it can upset fellow gay people. sort of an insider perspective on things lol.

i dont like what she id but she apologised...fact is we all make mistakes i myself have slipped and said thats so gay before...mainly as my mate says it...sure i dont like it but i kinda need to accept its culture thats been part of peoples upbringing it will take a lot of effort to get rid of these slurs and miss uses or words.

oh and @ember the asking for a cig is also the only time i dont care at all as its a totally different word in my head lol...then it just bothers me that people are smoking haha.

[RaRa]

Everyone slips up once in a while. I hate using 'retard' or 'retarded' to describe people or things but sometimes it just comes out. She actually took the time to apologize and removed the comment. People need to calm down and not attack everyone for the slightest little thing. This will only make us more enemies.

[Connor22]

well now that's just silly

[fallendream]

Fag isn't a nice word, I don't understand why you guys/gals are defending her use of it.
But, despite the fact it was an 'accident' she had to make the decision to hit send. I just tried and it's physically not possible to lean on the keys to make that phrase.

[RaRa]

And I make the decision to quickly send retard or retarded when I'm playing a game or whatever and am trying to describe something. Am I a malicious, hateful bastard now who wants all retarded people wiped out? No. You can get all caught up about it if she had left it up and didn't give a rats ass who saw it, but she noticed, apologized, and took it down. What do you want her to do, donate $500,000 to the HRC or something?

[x2x2x2x2y2]

Originally Posted by RaRa

Everyone slips up once in a while. I hate using 'retard' or 'retarded' to describe people or things but sometimes it just comes out. She actually took the time to apologize and removed the comment. People need to calm down and not attack everyone for the slightest little thing. This will only make us more enemies.

I agree with this, but I also must say that talking and tweeting aren't the same. It's a lot easier to slip when talking. Tweeting, you have a chance to think before you hit send.

[lostinthought9]

Originally Posted by RaRa

Everyone slips up once in a while. I hate using 'retard' or 'retarded' to describe people or things but sometimes it just comes out. She actually took the time to apologize and removed the comment. People need to calm down and not attack everyone for the slightest little thing. This will only make us more enemies.

This.

[KittyBoy]

Stephanie has always been an impulsive wild-child, she does say and do a LOT of things, but she always appologises of the things she does say in the heat of the moment.

[Rikudo]

Well it was in the heat of the moment and often people tend to say things without thinking. I can't remember how many times you hear people in the team say "I love you man!" when things go great but that doesn't imply that they are homosexual. To me it's no big deal infact I don't care if people say slurs as long as they don't say it in a truly hate filled manner. That's just my opinion and to each his own.

[Revan]

Originally Posted by x2x2x2x2y2

I agree with this, but I also must say that talking and tweeting aren't the same. It's a lot easier to slip when talking. Tweeting, you have a chance to think before you hit send.

I'm sorry but I don't see it. I've been in the hype of the moment and Tweeted something and hit send without even bothering. I just was so mad I posted it and then took it down later.

[Jeremy]

I guess I don't really have much of an issue with her in particular, but I do think the F word is inappropriate for anyone to be saying - gay, straight, whatever. She obviously doesn't hate gay people, so I don't think it's a big deal. Still though, I really don't think she has an excuse for using it.

Then again, I suppose another stance is that the F word is just a configuration of various phonemes, and it really is meaningless. The issue being however, that there was context in this situation. Though it wasn't necessarily used against homosexuals, it was very obviously used in a demeaning way against a group of people. That's just my analysis I guess. I don't intend to knock her for her choice of words (that wouldn't be a very productive thing to do anyway); she did get rid of it after all.

[RedState]

Jesus Christ people, let's look at it this way: people are going to talk about you until the day you die....and they're isn't a damn thing you can do about it. In the Wisdom of Media: "it's not what they call you...it's what you answer to that matters"