The guy who runs The Chelsea Daily Twitter feed announced what he thought was a scoop: Michy Batshuayi, a striker for Chelsea of the Premier League, is gay. He even used a rainbow flag emoji to give the news more authenticity.
The scoop was nothing of the sort as @TheChelseaDaily acknowledged after Batshuayi had some fun at his expense.
😂😂😂😂 bro even your mother knows thats false 🙈 https://t.co/Vs0gEl711b
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) November 16, 2017
“Sorry Michy bro, my sources let me down. I’m usually reliable,” @TheChelseaDaily wrote in reply.
Jon Holmes, an openly gay sports editor at Sky Sports, was a bit put off by Batshuayi’s humor, tweeting: “2017, and evidence here that for some, the idea of men being gay in football is still sensational, hilarious or shameful. Michy, you have LGBT fans, you can do better.”
To which the Chelsea player replied:
If u follow me you know I like make fun of all & mostly rumors, whatever they are… pls dont be offended it was not meant for this 🙏😘 #EqualGame 🏳️🌈
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) November 17, 2017
“Thanks Michy. I just think players can really help educate on these matters. Chelsea doing great work too,” Holmes responded.
I was not offended by Batshuayi’s response to the gay rumor. It was so wildly inaccurate and false that humor was a good retort and he was having a little fun at the writer’s expense, not at the idea of being gay. It was just a silly Twitter moment and I read nothing weightier into his response.
Undeterred, @TheChelseaDaily announced a “scoop” the next day that another Chelsea player was going to come out as gay. I guess he’ll keep going until he’s tweeted that all 25 Chelsea players are ready to come out. After that, he can start on the rest if the Premier League.
