Canadian football players fined for homophobic tweets

Alouettes’ Bruce tells Michael Sam to ‘man up and do some MFN pushups’

The Canadian Football League (CFL) has fined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Bryant Turner and the Montreal Alouettes’ Arland Bruce for disparaging posts on Twitter about openly gay NFL hopeful Michael Sam, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.

When Sam came out as gay in the lead-up to the American NFL draft pick, Turner posted, “Michael Sam locker room gonna come with complimentary robes.” He later deleted the comment.

Bruce, meanwhile, told Sam, “you gaey (sic) man up and do some MFN pushups and get on your knees and submit to God fully.”

“The comments made by these players are extremely disappointing and do not represent the CFL’s views or the views of the vast majority of our players,” said CFL commissioner Mark Cohon. “The CFL is supportive of openly gay athletes in professional sports and we commend the courage shown by Michael Sam.”

Cohon added that the CFL has been working with the You Can Play campaign to make professional sports more welcoming to gay athletes and said he looks forward to announcing a “formal partnership” with the campaign in the near future.

The Alouettes also denounced Bruce’s comment, though they haven’t cut him yet.

The league did not say how much it fined the two players.

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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