Spanish football icon Iker Casillas has said his Twitter account was "hacked" and has voiced his support for the LGBT community following a now deleted post in which he claimed he was gay.
The former Real Madrid and Porto goalkeeper posted a message on Sunday afternoon that read "I hope you respect me, I'm gay."
The tweet prompted a response from his former Spain team-mate Carles Puyol, who wrote "it's time to tell our story, Iker."
Many initially considered the content of the post to be sincere and Casillas received support on social media. However, the post was later removed from the 41-year-old's feed and he has since shared the following apparent explanation.
"Hacked account," said the ex-goalkeeper. "Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community."
Puyol has also removed his response to the initial post, with Spanish newspaper AS reporting the duo were being sarcastic following recent gossip regarding Casillas and his links to different women in the press.
Puyol then shared the following post on his own account: "I have made a mistake. Sorry for a clumsy joke with no bad intentions and totally out of place. I understand that it may have hurt sensitivities. All my respect and support for the LGTBIQA+ community."
Since the post, the pair have received widespread condemnation on social media. Josh Cavallo, who became the first openly gay male footballer playing at a professional top-flight level in October 2021, expressed his anger at the posts.
"Casillas and Puyol joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing," he said on Twitter. "It's a difficult journey that any LGBTQ+ [people] have to go through. To see my role models and legends of the game make fun out of coming out and my community is beyond disrespectful."
