Welsh council hopeful apologises after comparing rugby with gay porn

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A Labour council candidate in Wales has apologised for a series of tweets that left him accused of sexism and one which jokingly compared rugby with gay porn.

Shahid Hussain, a prospective councillor for the town of Glanaman also told followers a council meeting was “boring” and he would rather be shot than carry on attending it, the South Wales Evening Post reports.

Mr Hussain’s account appears to have been deleted today but archives show him asking another Twitter user “Was it gay porn? oh sorry thats just rugby! ; ) haha”.

It is not known what Mr Hussain was referring to, but the user he tweeted did post PinkNews.co.uk’s April Fools story that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the shock replacement for Mickey Rourke in the film of gay Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas’ life on Sunday, correctly identifying it as a joke.

Mr Hussain was accused of sexism in some tweets which discussed Big Brother star Imogen Thomas, and is reported to have sent out some which may have been offensive to the incumbent councillor, for which he said he would happily apologise in person.

Mr Hussain said he had attended the “boring” council meeting as a member of the public.

Of the tweets, he told the paper: “I may have posted something to say I was bored in a meeting but I was just having a laugh, I don’t use Twitter seriously.

“If I got elected I know I would be in a more responsible position and my actions would reflect that. Nobody in Glanaman follows me on Twitter, and if they did I would be more responsible with it.”

He added: “I am really, really sorry if I have offended anybody.”

Carmarthenshire Labour secretary Phil Grice said: “These are an appallingly immature set of tweets and Mr Hussain ought to be ashamed of himself. I accept he is a very inexperienced candidate who may be unaware of the proper conduct of candidates with respect to their political opponents.”

Welsh Labour said it would look into the tweets.

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