Rugby legend Nigel Owens has been temporarily banned from Facebook after sharing a screenshot of someone aiming horrific homophobic abuse at him.
The former referee, who came out as gay in 2007, took to Twitter to explain that he had been blocked on the rival social media site for 30 days after posting a photo of a message he had been sent on Instagram containing a homophobic slur.
While he had been banned immediately, it seemed initially that the person who sent him the message had not faced any punishment. However, it now appears that the account has been deleted.
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Explaining the situation, Nigel wrote: "I shared a post on Facebook of someone who was posting homophobic comments at me, and Facebook have blocked ME for 30 days. Not the person who was actually posting the homophobic comments. Unbelievable. And now I can't contact Facebook to explain."
He went on to share a screenshot of the awful message he had received. It read: "F*** you Nigel, you should stay out of South African rugby games. I... we have not time to hear options from f*****s like you (sic)".
Many of the former ref's 428,000 Twitter followers rushed to offer him support with outraged fans describing the ban as "disgusting" and "disgraceful".
"You are respected by so many Nigel," wrote one. "This type of hatred has no place in society. It's appalling how people can type it." Another added: "I saw [the message] on your Instagram Nigel and I'm still just as disgusted as the first time I read it. Keep being you, you're a great role model for our kids."
"It's awful that in this day and age anyone should have to receive something like this for just being who they are, whether it's about race, religion, sexuality or anything else," commented another. "I like to think rugby is better than this as a whole. Facebook needs to sort this out asap."
As of Monday, November 21, the Instagram account that the message to Nigel was sent from can no longer be found.
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