Footballers Being Homophobic - Number One: Liam Hearn

Yesterday, in this thing, I said that homophobia was in its last throes. Now while I do genuinely believe that, it still means that it hasn't disappeared completely. Just the other the day the commendable Justin Campaign released a statement in response to a homophobic comment sent and later deleted from the Twitter account of Crawley Town player Hope Akpan. His manager Steve Evans assured fans that it had been sent by "a young member of his family" without his knowledge, and while the day anyone should take Steve Evans' word at face value is the day hell freezes over, he is nonetheless innocent until proven guilty, and The Justin Campaign want The FA to look into it "with immediate urgency".

And unfortunately it's not the only occasion on which a footballer has sent a homophobic tweet. Hope Akpan - whether he sent his or not - was unlucky to get caught; many will avoid being taken to task.

Take, for example, these two tweets from Grimsby Town striker Liam Hearn. They were sent about a month and a half ago but better late than never or something:

“@Eugenious10: Y do ppl feel the need to compare & say 1 rapper is better than the other!? I f*cks with Drizzy, Jcole, jay-z Weezy (no homo)Mon Sep 26 20:34:05 via Twitter for iPhoneLiam Hearn
Hearnz10

So in that first tweet Hearn has retweeted his friend, Eugene Francis: "Aspiring Professional Footballer". Eugene was complaining about how some people make rap music into a competition, before naming four rappers that he likes. But oh no! The way he expressed this was through saying that he "f*cks with" them. And that could be misconstrued as him being gay! Hearn has noted this, and cleverly attached the famous rap caveat, 'no homo' to the end, to poke fun at his friend.

“@Eugenious10: @Hearnz10 lol soz pal (No Ben Mitchell) another Person to turn Batts on tv..” that is a disgrace! Who would want bens role?Mon Sep 26 21:19:12 via Twitter for iPhoneLiam Hearn
Hearnz10

This happened at around the time EastEnders character Ben Mitchell came out as gay, so, in a typically hilarious bit of footballer banter, Eugene apologises for his mistake and changes the word 'homo' to 'Ben Mitchell'. Brilliant! As you can see, he then makes a fairly overt homophobic comment before Hearn chips in with another. Seriously Liam, you're definitely quite good at football, but if this is anything to go by, you're also a bit of a tool.

Funnily enough, Hearn is quite quick to jump the gun and call someone racist:

Misha B needs to get in the Goonie Goo Goomobile and get the fuck out #givemehalfeddieSun Nov 06 20:09:07 via Twitter for AndroidJason Goode
Goodey17

@Goodey17 u racist?!Sun Nov 06 20:22:54 via Twitter for iPhoneLiam Hearn
Hearnz10

But is himself a proponent of prejudice against a different minority.

You might be reading this and thinking that it's not really anything worth getting het up over. Hearn is only a fifth division footballer (albeit one on the rise), and these messages were only throwaway ones, broadcast only to the 800 people who follow him on Twitter, but the truth is that that's more than enough. Sitting back and letting people talk like Hearn and Francis did in a public forum without saying anything about it doesn't get you anywhere.