French rugby center Mathieu Bastareaud has been canned from France’s National Team headed into the prestigious Six Nations tournament after Bastareaud was found guilty of using a gay slur, according to the Associated Press.
The incident happened last weekend when Bastareaud called Italian opponent Sebastian Negri a “f***ing f***ot.” The incident was immediately reported and Bastareaud, to his credit, did not publicly deny he had said the words but instead offered an apology.
World Rugby mandates a six-week suspension. However, because there were no “aggravating factors,” according to the Telegraph, and because Bastareaud pled guilty, the governing body reduced his suspension to three weeks.
So Bastareud has been suspended for three weeks and dropped from his national team, and the NHL and the Anaheim Ducks chose to not suspend Ryan Getzlaf for one game after the Ducks captain used a gay slur on the ice. It speaks volumes about where the two sporting organizations are in seriously addressing the use of gay slurs.
