Some people still haven’t figured out the power—and danger—of social media: Shahid Hussain, currently running for a city council seat in Glanaman, Wales, is under fire for a tweet he posted comparing the sport of rugby to gay-porn movies.

Hussain has since deleted his Twitter account, which was public, but Twitter archives show him asking another user, “Was it gay porn? oh sorry thats just rugby! ; ) haha”. It’s not clear what he was referring to, but Hussain had been forwarded Pink News’ April Fools’ Day story about Arnold Schwarzenegger replacing Mickey Rourke in the bio-flick about Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas.

The message was sent by Hussain while he was observing a council meeting, which he referred to as “boring.” He also made fun of Big Brother UK contestant Imogen Thomas and Hussain’s political rival, current Glanaman councilman David Jenkins.

Carmarthenshire Labour secretary Phil Grice said Hussain “should be ashamed of himself” for such “appallingly immature” comments. “I accept he is a very inexperienced candidate who may be unaware of the proper conduct of candidates with respect to their political opponents.”

Hussain told the South Wales Evening Post he regretting his words:

“I may have posted something to say I was bored in a meeting but I was just having a laugh, I don’t use Twitter seriously… If I got elected I know I would be in a more responsible position and my actions would reflect that. Nobody in Glanaman follows me on Twitter, and if they did I would be more responsible with it.”

Anyone know how to say “digging the hole deeper” in Welsh?

Source: South Wales Evening Post via Pink News. Photo: Maree Reveley

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