Wasn’t sure whether to give this oxygen but it’s clearly had that anyway on here, and I think it’s important.

Last night, several national newspaper websites excitedly wrote pieces and shared tweets about a Premier League footballer *reportedly* breaking “Covid rules for a GAY sex fuelled orgy”. Except...

These pieces did not link to a report at all. Further searching online shows the report stems from a website called Politicalite, which is a hyper partisan website previously banned from Facebook for violating hate speech policies.

The mainstream newspaper reports have since been deleted and taken down but that has not stopped a round of pretty big speculation on social media and WhatsApp about who it could be.

This is damaging on so many levels. It maintains and reinforces the silhouette media culture that suggests being gay is something wrong or to hidden. It also reinforces tropes about LGBT promiscuity and/or irresponsibility.

You then have individuals speculated about online, without evidence, which may be greatly damaging to their own mental health and personal relationships. Meanwhile, any gay sportsman who does not yet feel comfortable enough to step forward sees an intimidating media culture.

So, let’s be better and nicer in 2021 please.