Football players, Cheikhou Kouyate and Ismaila Sarr have sparked fury at their clubs Crystal Palace and Watford for publicly backing their Senegal team-mate Idrissa Gueye for 'refusing to wear LGBT Rainbow shirt to play for PSG.
Over the weekend, PSG wore a special version of their white away kit, with the numbers on the back of every shirt having the rainbow color in support of solidarity to mark the upcoming International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, on Tuesday, May 17.
But midfielder Idrissa refused to play in their Ligue 1 game against Montpellier on Saturday because he didn’t want to wear their customized LGBT rainbow kit.
The former Everton and Aston Villa player, a devout Muslim was absent from the match for what his manager Mauricio Pochettino said 'were personal reasons, but he is not injured'.
After the 4-0 win over Montpellier, Mauricio Pochettino was asked about Gueye’s absence and said: “Idrissa made the trip to Montpellier, but for personal reasons he had to leave the match sheet. But he was not injured.”
French outlet RMC Sport reported that the reason behind Gueye's omission is he didn't want to wear a shirt with rainbow colours. They added that Gueye missed the equivalent commemorative match on the same weekend last year for what PSG said was gastroenteritis.
Former Everton star Gueye has now seemingly been backed by Kouyate and Sarr, who both play with the midfielder for the Senegal national team.
Sarr posted a picture of himself standing next to Gueye on Instagram, with a fist emoji, three heart emojis, and the words: '100 percent'.
Midfielder Kouyate also uploaded a photo of himself with the 32-year-old on the social media platform, calling him 'a real man', and adding 'we wholeheartedly support you, brother'.
Watford fans reacted immediately in the wake of Sarr's post - which has since been deleted - with one calling for him to leave the club. The Hertfordshire-based club's honorary president is a gay music icon, Sir Elton John.
One simply wrote: 'Get him out of our club', while another called him 'stupid' for his social media post.
'How stupid do you have to be, as Ismaila Sarr, to come out in support of a homophobe, in the same week a 17-year-old lad was brave enough to come out as gay, in the world of football,' the tweet said. 'Absolutely moronic.'
Crystal Palace's Kouyate was also targeted for criticism by fans, with some calling him to be removed from their squad.
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