Footballer calls Chelsea players ‘faggots’, claims he didn’t know it was homophobic
A Coventry City footballer has apologised after he referred to the Chelsea and Tottenham teams as as a “bunch of faggots”.
25-year-old Chris Stokes plays as a defender for League One club Coventry City, in the third tier of English football.
While watching the Premiership match between Chelsea and Tottenham on Monday night, Stokes tweeted : “This games [sic] embarrassing to watch! Bunch of faggots”.
After the comment provoked an angry response he deleted the message and attempted to apologise – claiming he didn’t know the word faggot was offensive.
He tweeted: “I’d like to apologise for a term used in an earlier tweet. I didn’t realise what the term meant and was shocked when people pointed it out.”
“It’s unacceptable and it won’t happen again, I am very sorry if I’ve caused offence to anyone.”
The club says it is looking into the incident.
A statement said: “The club will have an internal investigation into Chris Stokes’ behaviour on social media and his use of the term.
“The club would like to stress that it is completely unacceptable for any of our players or staff to express such remarks at any time.
“Coventry City FC expect the highest level of professionalism from our players as we’re a family club and we want our players to act as role models in the Coventry and Warwickshire community.
“We will work with organisations such as Kick it Out and Football v Homophobia to help educate Chris and the squad on why this term is unacceptable to make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future.”
Stokes said in a statement released by the club: “I’d like to apologise for any offence I’ve caused.
“It was a brainless moment from me and I’m really disappointed in myself for using that term, I’m not homophobic at all.
“However, I know it is not acceptable by any means and I’m really sorry to any of our supporters or anyone in the wider public who have been offended by the remark.”
