Love Island star slams homophobia as he responds to speculation about sexuality
The PhD student's twin brother has also had to call out internet trolls before.
Words: Alastair James; pictures: Instagram/@twinbrett
Love Island’s Brett Staniland has had to speak out after people began speculating about his sexuality on social media, and in doing so delivered a perfectly-worded quip.
The reality star has taken to Instagram to call out people using “gay” in a negative way and affirming his stance on homophobia. Brett had a short run on the show when he coupled up with Priya Gopaldas, 23, who dumped him after he supposedly gave her the “ick”.
“Homophobia will not run at all on here”
Posting in his Instagram stories Brett, 27, said: “Calling me gay will never offend me. It does not affect me one bit. But when you choose words in a way so that being gay is deemed as wrong, that is when I have an issue with it. Homophobia will not run at all on here.
“Apologies if that didn’t come across in my response.”
As reported by Heatworld, the post follows Brett asking Love Island producers if they could not air a conversation he had while on the show. In an IGTV conversation with his friend Chelsea McGeehee, Brett said he’d felt listened to after sharing his concerns.
“There was one thing that I was conscious of that I shared, and I literally went to see the psychiatrist and went to see production and I was like ‘I’m really adamant on this not being shown, please’.
“They did what they could, they said, ‘We’ve got the conversation, it’s not going to be aired, you’ve got nothing to worry about’. It gave me peace of mind.”
The PhD student’s identical twin brother, Scott, has also had to call out social media trolls while he managed his brother’s social media accounts during his time on the show.
In an interview with the BBC Scott said he found comments about his brother’s physical appearance upsetting. “I’m his identical twin so anything I see about appearance, or what he’s like, I take it so personally,” he said.
“It’s relentless as well, and it’s a really weird space online, this lack of consequence for saying something out in the open online when you’re at home with your piece of plastic in your hand.”
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