Former Egyptian football player and current sports commentator Mohamed Aboutrika launched into a two-minute homophobic rant over the weekend during commentary on the beIN sports network.
It all started when another presenter mentioned the UK Premier League’s Rainbow Laces Campaign, an initiative aimed at stamping out homophobia in sports. Aboutrika didn’t hold back in his criticism of the campaign, or in sharing his negative opinions of LGBTQ people.
“This phenomenon is not only against Muslim nature but it’s against human nature,” he said. “Allah says in the Quran that we have to honor the children of Adam but by doing this homosexuality we are not honoring humans, we are humiliating them.”
Aboutrika added that Muslims “have a role to play” in eliminating homosexuality. “They will tell you it’s a human rights but it’s not a human right, in fact it’s against humanity,” he said before urging beIN to ban any mention of queer people or issues on the network.
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So disappointing to see Egyptian legend Mohamed Aboutrika dismissing the @premierleague #RainbowLace? campaign and using theological positions to do so.
No challenge from @beINSPORTS_EN he was given space to deny the rights and existence of a community.pic.twitter.com/rrKV7PAJQz
— Fare (@farenet) November 30, 2021
American news site Deadline further reports that beIN, for its part, has confirmed an accurate translation of Aboutrika’s comments and that the network has privately reprimanded him. BeIN has not, however, condemned the comments in public.
A spokesperson for the network said it will continue to promote the Rainbow Laces campaign, saying “As a global media group we represent, champion and support people, causes and interests of every single background, language and cultural heritage across 43 hugely diverse countries, as we show every day.”
Aboutrika’s comments come amid ongoing discussion about holding the World Cup in the nation of Qatar next year.
Queer rights advocates have expressed concern over the nation’s hostile attitude toward LGBTQ people. Homosexuality is punishable by death in Qatar. Amnesty International has referred to the 2022 World Cup as “Qatar’s World Cup of Shame.” Openly gay professional footballer Josh Cavallo, meanwhile, has expressed fear at entering the nation.
Related: David Beckham signs on to be the face of Qatar, where being gay is punishable by death
Essie
There is MONEY to be made over there in Qatar and Dubai and all the other Arab countries. No sport should be held there but when money is thrown up in the air, everyone wants some of it. The Womens Tennis Association (WTA) has, I think, three tournaments in three of those countries. How these women could play in these countries where women are treated worse than cattle is beyond me. Women used to not be allowed in the stadium but now they can get in as long as they don’t sit with men. The ATP also has tournaments there. It’s shameful. I don’t expect the World Cup people to change their minds about playing there. Money talks, no matter what group is hurt.
Oh, and this man should lose his job but he won’t.
SamB
Is anyone really shocked this came from an Egyptian sportscaster on a Qatari sports channel? He will not lose his job, he was probably given a bonus. I agree with Essie, we need to stay away from those countries.
KerryB
Perhaps somebody should remind him that being a muslim is a lifestyle choice.
JB
The Shakespearean line, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” definitely fits in this instance. Time to come out of the closet, Mohamed.
basils_Herald
I’m not disputing the homophobia present in the Islamic world, but Islam (or really any other faith) is very clear that we are each children of grace. The Quran has two or three verses to condemn sodomy (which they actually call Lot – the hero in the story remember). Additionally, the Quran expressly reminds us to look for God in the love we experience in marriage using an ambiguous word for spouse, not wife. => And of His signs is that He created for you, of yourselves, spouses, that you (may) find rest in them, and he has made between you amity and mercy. Surely in that are indeed signs for a people who reflect.
But yeah, haters going to hate I guess
SamB
As you said there is a lot of hate in every old religion, but are you trying to say that because the Quran doesn’t specifically use the word “wife” that it may mean that Islam is gay accepting? And are you calling Lot a “hero” in a story where he tries to give his daughters to an angry mob in exchange for not attacking two men?
I really don’t understand what your comment is about?
basils_Herald
I am saying that there is a queer lens to read every story. That the Quran reminds the faithful that god is as close to every person as their jugular vein – saint and sinner alike. And that in the story of Lot, an unlikely character experiences grace because he showed hospitality to someone else even when he was in personal danger.
jayceecook
@basils_Herald Lot? The same Lot who offered one of his daughters up to the mob of men who wanted to r*pe the angel so they’d leave him alone? The Lot whose daughters r*ped *him* while he slept and then bore his children? Yeah, he experienced a lot of grace.
SamB
@Basils: “That the Quran reminds the faithful that god is as close to every person as their jugular vein” Interesting example. Sounds threatening. Were Lot’s daughters not more important than strangers?
I’m not attacking the Quran alone, I’m saying all ancient religion… actually, all religion is based on fear to follow established rules. Most religions, however, have somewhat evolved and despite past atrocities, at least on the surface, practice tolerance. But Islam has not evolved in the same way and continues to adhere to very violent punishments for perceived “sins”.
I watched a documentary about a scholar who made an argument that Muhammad did not actually come from Mecca, but Petra and the backlash was needlessly violent.
basils_Herald
Setting aside the times when religion has been weaponized against each of us (which it has) and what we think we remember from Sunday school, the story of Lot in the Quran is different from the Bible and doesn’t include the daughters being harmed to start. It’s a story, an account of a legend that has existed in the near east since thousands of years before the Jewish scriptures were first composed. This story is important for muslims because it reminds us to be humble, that there are more powerful forces in the universe than we understand and sometimes it causes human civilization to devolve into a cluster, and that both our real lived experience and our experience in the world to come will be easier if we help each other and show hospitality to strangers. Islam, like most faiths, is about your own experience of Allah or the divine or the Goddess or whatever you call it than what some homophobic faction weaponizes against us. The Quran also teaches that anyone who preaches to exclude someone from Allah’s grace and divide us, does not have the authority to preach for Allah. There are gay muslims and there always will be. These douchebags on TV do not speak for everyone.
SamB
@Basils: This is from the Quran “And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the infidels wherever you find them and capture them and beside them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” -Quran, 9:5
What context makes that peaceful?
Religion was always a tool used to organize a group of people and, to be used against another group of people.
basils_Herald
I agree with you that religion is a tool to organize people. I guess I see it more neutrally? Religion has been used to do horrible things throughout human history. But so has science, culture, resources, space and emotions and we haven’t started to boycott those. There are queer faithful communities in every religion. Personally, when I have had struggles in life, even with coming out to my homophobic father, I had Christianity weaponized against me. It was my muslim friends who always reminded me that I was loved by Allah, not my family’s co-congregation goers. It was my congregation who showed me that my father didn’t really understand what the Bible (or Quran) means, even if he memorized some verses.
SamB
@Basils: OK, this will be my last reply because I don’t want to be a bully, but if people need to reinterpret words, or try to make them fit into a context that they feel comfortable with, then why are they following those teachings? My stance is the word written is what is means.
I hope you find some happiness with comforting friends and the only person or thing you really need to be held accountable to is yourself.
FridM
Islam has NO value!!!
basils_Herald
I think that the Abhidhamma teaches that our thoughts have constituent abstract parts that are interrelated. Faith is needed to generate hope. It doesn’t need to be faith in a religion, it can be in science, in yourself, in humanity, but it can also be for Islam. I’m not muslim but I still find the Quran is a beautiful narrative of important legends from the Holy Lands (and SO much quicker to read than the Bible)
Fahd
From what I’ve observed, in those Arab countries in which gender segregation is the norm (Egypt isn’t as bad as some of the Gulf countries), the men engage in lots of dl homosexual behavior. There’s the public vs. private “persona”. Overt homophobia, especially among Quran-thumpers, is often part of the public persona.
Anyway, European football officials sold out completely long ago, so it’s no surprise that Qatar was able to buy the World Cup – decent people should protest, though.
flim
Tom Daley has been talking about this for months but apparently his husband thinking he’s hot is more of a story to queerty
SamB
Dustin, calm down.
Jim
Reading a book about the war in Afghanistan. Seems the men there and many of the officers use younger guys and subordinates for their sexual pleasure.
Hypocrisy isn’t only for Chrisiitans.
James
THIS MORON IS PROBABLY AN ISIS OR TALIBAN SUPPORTER.
scotty
obviously, islam is incompatible with actual reality and the entire rest of the civilized world.