Rob Mills apologises after tweeting inappropriate photo
Rob Mills has apologised "unreservedly" for tweeting a photo that was labelled "homophobic."
- Published by David Knox
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Entertainer Rob Mills has apologised “unreservedly” for tweeting a photo yesterday which has got him into hot water.
The photo, which referred to Hawthorn’s win over Sydney in the AFL Grand Final, depicted 2 Lego characters simulating sex. It was later deleted.
But media drew attention to social media criticism which suggested it was “homophobic.”
“I apologise unreservedly for the photo I tweeted yesterday – it was immature and inappropriate,” he said later in a statement on his website.
“In the excitement of celebrating the Hawks Grand Final win, I didn’t think about the homophobic implications of the image.
“This incident probably shows how entrenched inadvertent homophobia is in our culture.
“As a long-time supporter of the rights of Australia’s gay community, it’s not good enough and I’m ashamed if I have contributed to it, even in a small way.”
Mills, who appeared last week on Reality Check, has a long history of supporting the gay community, including calling for marriage equality.
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- Tagged with AFL Grand Final, Reality Check
9 Responses
In the age of the 24/7 news cycle, new stories are constantly needed and you even have to make stories out of nothing. This is one of them
Be interesting to know who led the “homophobic” chant. I bet it wasn’t the gays who if anything would have a sense of humour about it… which I gather was the original intent.
Just another storm in a Twitter tea cup until the next celebrity says something “outrageous”
I agree that it wasn’t in the best of taste but I think calling it ‘homophobic’ is just another example of someone over-reacting on social media which is then taken up by the frothing masses.
I don’t think that the image was equating male to male (ie “gay”) anal sex as punishment. It was simply a pictorial representation of a common saying where the receiver is an unwilling participant – the strong implication being that they are heterosexual and would therefore find the experience unpleasant (much like watching their team being comprehensively beaten).
There’s perhaps an argument for saying that it makes light of rape but it’s not homophobic.
If, instead, one of the Lego men was spanking the other with a cane, would we have people up in arms about it making fun of people who are into spanking because it equated caning with punishment? Of course not.
This guy has rubbed me the wrong way right from the beginning of his “career”. Most Idol, Big Brother, etc…, contestants who branch off into the media usually do actually.
Millsy is well-regarded in the industry, a good worker and approachable. Not homophobic, but the photo wasn’t helpful.
This is where I just scratch my head in confusion. People like Mr Mills know they are in a spotlight, they have chosen to seek a career in media.
Why then, would they do something as stupid as this?
It’s the same with all the nude photos of celebrities getting around lately. Just why? Why would you even entertain the idea of taking nude selfies when you are such a high profile person?
what would make him even think about doing something like that?
Was it immature? Yeah. Was it homophobic? Not really… People need to lighten up, I mean, it was LEGO!
The mainstream media really need to be very careful about how they report this. You will find very few people less homophobic than Rob Mills. If only other articles reported as fairly as this one. Mills is not a homophobe but what he did was not right. Equating anal sex with punishment for losing is an outdated notion entrenched in homophobic thinking. Mills’ mistake here was nothing more than not thinking before hitting that send button. I guarantee that he’d be feeling enormous guilt. This is not part of a pattern (like it is with other media personalities) so I suggest we all accept his apology and move on.