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Gay news: Triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice has publicly apologised for making a homophobic comment on Twitter.
By: Nigel Robinson
Stephanie Rice: "not homophobic"
Stephanie Rice: "not homophobic"
Aussie swimmer apologises for homophobic comment
On Saturday, after watching Australia beat South Africa in the Tri-Nations ruby, she had tweeted, “Suck on that, faggots. Probs the best game I’ve ever seen!! Well done, boys.”
The comment provoked a storm of controversy with gay Australian ex-rugby star Ian Roberts calling her an idiot, and Jaguar, one of her advertising sponsors, dropping her.
Rice insisted at the time that she was not homophobic, a claim backed by fellow swimming medallist Matthew Mitcham, who is gay, and who described the tweet as “an extremely poor choice of words”.
At a specially convened press conference in Sydney, Rice broke down as she admitted that her comments were thoughtless and careless.
“But I can assure you when I made those comments on Twitter I never intended to offend anybody,” she said.
“I’ve learnt a lot in the last couple of days. I’ve learned I must think before I speak and this has been a very important lesson.
“I’ve also learned that some things you say can mean more to others than they do to you.”
Rice insisted again that she was not homophobic and that she had lots of gay friends.
“I owe it to those who I have offended to publicly say I am sorry,” she continued.
“It is not me to give offence to other people no matter who they are.
"I am not a person who judges others or speaks in a way that hurts others."
