Criticism of coming-out joke: “Disappointing and more than disrespectful”

DFormer Spain international Carles Puyol has apologized for his “clumsy joke” in response to former international goalkeeper Iker Casillas’ alleged coming out. “I made a mistake,” the 44-year-old wrote on Twitter. His response to Casillas’ tweet was “without malicious intent” but was “totally inappropriate.”

Puyol and Casillas apologize

The Spanish goalkeeper legend Casillas had given his supposed coming out in a later deleted tweet on his channel, which is subscribed to by almost ten million people, and later justified this with a hacked account. “I hope you respect me: I’m gay,” read the 41-year-old’s Twitter account. The tweet was deleted after about an hour. Puyol then responded on Twitter. “It’s time to tell our story, Iker,” he wrote, followed by a heart emoji and a kissing hand emoji.

There had been a lot of criticism for the tweets. “Joking and poking fun at coming out in football is disappointing,” wrote Australian gay footballer Joshua Cavallo. “To see my role models and gaming legends mock, come out and make fun of my community is beyond disrespectful.”

Puyol and Casillas later apologized. “I understand it might have hurt sensibilities. All my respect and support for the LGTBIQA+ community,” wrote former Barcelona pro Puyol. Casillas previously said: “Apologies to all my followers. And of course apologies to the LGTB community as well.”

Former Real professional Casillas was married to sports journalist Sara Carbonero until 2021 and has two sons with her. Puyol has been with model Vanesa Lorenzo for years, and they have two daughters together.