Richard Scott Kennedy was on his way home from a nightclub on February 25 when he says he was approached by a group of homophobic thugs.
The 18-year-old is theater student at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, Lancashire, England. He identifies as bisexual.
Kennedy claims the mob beat him, knocked him to the ground, and started stomping on his face, splitting his lip and forcing several of his teeth up into his gums.
After the attack he posted a picture of himself on his Facebook wall, along with the following message:
How about we take this to the next level?
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Here is my face after a homophobic attack, 4 of my teeth are gone, not fallen out but deep inside my gums and cheek, one is sitting under my cheek inside my gum on the right side bottom of my nose. My face is swollen and it was worse yesterday, both my knees are badly injured and I struggle to walk and my whole face is constantly throbbing and Iâm now on 4 tablets a day for pain and infection and may require surgery to sort the damage.
All of this and what was their motive? because of my f**king sexuality. something that doesnât concern ANYONE else minus me and the person I fall for, either man or woman. A sex life is private and has nothing to do with no one, needless to say itâs absolutely disgraceful to violently attack someone because of who they are. My confidence has gone; Iâm utterly embarrassed to be seen in public, the only reason I am putting this picture up is because I want you to see me as an example. An example why homophobia is wrong and itâs disgusting that itâs still around in 2014.
The picture has received over 47,000 shares.
But at least one person is calling Kennedyâs foul.
Someone who simply refers to themselves as âmufcgeezaâ on YouTube has uploaded a video calling the teenager a liar. The video is monetized and comments have been disabled. We donât want to add to the videoâs view count by including a link, so weâll just describe it to you:
The two-minute video opens by calling the whole story a âhoaxâ and suggesting Kennedy faked his teeth injuries in the photograph by using a âgum shield or another form of covering over his teeth.â It then claims the injury under his right eye âdoesnât even look real!â then goes on to say Kennedy could have drawn it on âusing ink from a red pen.â It then accuses Kennedy of fabricating the story in hopes of building a Facebook following and becoming a celebrity. But the icing on the cake comes towards the end of the video, when it says: âA quick glance at [Kennedyâs] education provided further evidence that he was suitable for the part of victim in a homophobic attackâŚâ then cuts to a screenshot of Kennedyâs Facebook profile showing that he is a theater student. âHeâs a natural for the part!â the video chirps.
Lancashire Police say they are investigating the incident, although they cannot confirm whether it was a hate crime.
According to a 2013 report on hate crimes in the UK commissioned by the Stonewall Organization, many LGBT people in the UK who reported hate crimes to police complained of unsatisfactory results. Fewer than one in ten victims said their reports led to a conviction, and two in five said their reports were not recorded as homophobic incidents.
danlev
I was a little suspicious, but only because he wrote “Please like and share…” at the end of his photo, since it’s such common thing for people to say when they’re just trying to get likes, but it sounds like the police confirmed it happened.
So devastating. Let’s hope the attackers get the appropriate punishment.
litper
Bisexual?
Now he’ll fuck as much vagina as he can to show how “man” he is. Pathetic…
sportyguy1983
The article does not say the police confirmed the attack. The article says the police are investigating the incident. I am skeptical to believe people who make claims like this when they post it on social media. It just seems a bit creepy to post the aftermath of an attack. It seems like the person is just attempting to garner attention.
Dan Leveille
@sportyguy1983: Sounds like it was confirmed in other articles: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/uk-bi-teen-18-has-teeth-smashed-brutal-anti-gay-attack280214
Cam
@sportyguy1983:
The police don’t think his injuries were faked.
“A police spokesperson told PinkNews.co.uk: âThis was a nasty and seemingly unprovoked assault and we are investigating the possibility that this was a homophobic crime. We treat all incidents of this nature very seriously and a further statement is currently being obtained from the victim.â
An investigation is underway and police are appealing to anybody that witnessed the assault to contact them on 101 quoting log reference 0844.
In a separate development on Friday, the British Army confirmed to PinkNews that it was investigating a series of homophobic and threatening remarks made by a soldier in response to the incident involving Mr Scott Kennedy.”
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/02/28/uk-police-appeal-information-nasty-violent-attack-bi-teen/
jezuzchrist
I think I’d rather go with a police spokeswoman rather than a random nutjob’s youtube video conspiracy theory. Nice one Queerty.
DarkZephyr
@litper: What exactly is “pathetic” about him being bisexual? You know that biphobia is just as bad as homophobia, right?
s12s34
I’ve found the man who posted the video, wouldn’t really call him a man more like a little boy! Seriously don’t know how people can do this! Turn a horrible situation into more drama. He needs to stop playing stupid football games ON HIS 3ds and posting insulting videos and go and look after his baby! Its amazing what you can find on the internet with a little Initiative! Here’s his twitter hasn’t been used in awhile the first thing I found https://mobile.twitter.com/TheGeeza180# then I found his Facebook with his name https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1251855287 then on one of his videos bingo blitz his profile picture appeared that I cross examined and hey, a match… So here we have it! What a pathetic person saying someone’s faked all this just for followers… Wow GARY GREET what a human being you are..
Dakotahgeo
GARY GREET– Ewwwwwwww…. I’ve seen uglier, but I can’t remember when. He looks like HE could be the instigator of this hate crime! We can only hope.
Archangelo
My thoughts and prayers go out to you, Richard. Make a speedy recovery.
Respect4all
I applaud his courage for showing the world the ugly face (literally) of homophobia. It might help some people to realize how wrong it is to direct hate toward someone who is not much older than a child.
christineisalesbian
The hell is wrong with you? Chill brah @litper:
JohnnyCorby
Ben Cohen should rescue him.
stranded
1. This is what happens when gay people cry wolf. All those incidences where the discrimination was faked, now makes us doubt all homophobic attacks.
2. No one likes a victim to be so public. I think if this story ran because a reporter caught wind and wrote about. It’d be one thing, but because he posted his busted face on the internet and told his sad tale, people then feel he’s looking for sympathy/ attention.
Will L
Not every gay person who is beat up is a victim of homophobia. Some are simply a%% holes who need to have some sense beat into them. More than likely, his injuries are real – self inflicted or otherwise. I prefer to reserve judgment (and sympathy) until the truth is known. Especially after a person has posted it to Facebook himself (a selfie no less).
hex0
Firstly Preston is a dump…
I’m willing to believe his story though his facebook post does come off a bit attention whorish; we don’t need more gay people with munchausen syndrome giving us a bad rep.
LolTheStory
Firstly, it amazes me that this article was updated quicker than anything you’d seen before once the video came to light. A subsequent apology was made and nothing gets done. This leads me to believe that you simply care about stirring up trouble and the advertising money. This is completely laughable because you didn’t want to link the video because it was monetised. Alongside this, this is a complete non-story because the video existing for only 2 fucking hours. Now I’m made to look bad for nothing. If you read my video properly and my apology (which I know you read, but that won’t bring people to your website obviously) you’d know I think it is admirable and courageous what he is doing to bring about equal rights.
Secondly, some people here clearly share my view and skepticism of the whole story. I’d love to know why you don’t portray them as evil as me, especially since you cannot prove I said anything. Again, this is all about the journalism and the money.
And now the comments. Those two comments above make me laugh. I don’t have a baby so you clearly lack proper “initiative”. Even if I did have a baby, at least I can create them with my partner, unlike you. You want to judge me on football games? That’s hilarious considering I haven’t played that game for months. Again, with proper research, you would have known on one of my videos that I replied to someone explicitly saying I don’t play that game. Also, do you think I’m bothered if I’m called ugly? At the end of the day, it shows how shallow you must be. As it happens, I think that was a knee-jerk observation because you actually think the opposite.
Some people share my initial sentiments that the “please like and share” insists that it is faked. As you can see in previous comments, people criticise this chap too. However, you choose to pick on me for journalistic purposes. There is no proof that this was a homophobic attack by the way.
At the end of the day, I hope he does get through to people to help fight discrimination. I won’t be losing sleep over this, mind. Oh, and I use AdBlock so no adverts viewed/clicked by me đ
Dakotahgeo
@LolTheStory: What the hell is your rant all about? Go to bed and get some sleep. Is this the Gary Greet, the gay tweet? Ewwwwwwww.
LolTheStory
Rant? No.
Simply corrected the hypocritical, trouble-making author of this article.
You must be quite ignorant to different time zones because my comment wasn’t made at the time stated. Anyway, one “ewwww” is fine by me when your lifetime will be full of them đ
Dakotahgeo
@LolTheStory: Listen, you little British (or any other) turd, I’ve dealt with kids like you all my life, and I can assure you I’ve had a hell of great life. My comment stands. Your rant is pointless! (?)
GeriHew
@litper: Like to have stuck the boot into him yourself would you?
I know of bi and trans people in the UK who say they have been physically assaulted by gay men. The police seem to have no idea how to tackle and investigate reports of these types of alleged hate crime.
If by chance you’re not a gay man litper then please pardon by presumption.
LolTheStory
@Dakotahgeo: Hi pal,
I will just refer you to this article: http://www.queerty.com/victim-of-hate-crime-is-apparent-hoaxster-injured-self-by-falling-face-first-onto-pavement-20140312#comments although plenty others are available
I believe that you feel relatively foolish now that this guy was proven to have fabricated the story. I’d like to think that I can say “my comment stands” now, because I was in fact exposing the truth. The difference between us in “Iâve had a hell of great life” is exactly that, yours is nearly over and mine is just beginning đ
Anyway, thank you to Queerty for the free advertising. It is funny how my small video made you want to sensationalise this story to make me appear the villain in this. I guarantee that you would change this article if you were any sort of good media outlet, otherwise you wold look rather silly. So, again, thank you for the free advertising đ