World famous soccer team FC Barcelona have received backlash for LGBTQ+ imagery behind the club emblem on social media to recognize international Pride Day.
The Catalan club announced their support of Pride Day on June 28 with posts on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Barcelona already have a large following on Twitter, but 41.4 million people around the world have seen a club tweet featuring the trans and rainbow flags, with thousands reacting to it.
"We're flying the rainbow flag to celebrate LGTBQI+ Pride Day #Pride2023," the club wrote across social media, including images of Pride flags at their stadium, the Spotify Camp Nou.
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) June 28, 2023
Among the 60,000 people who commented or retweeted the images, a significant number criticized the club's action.
"You have Muslim fans like us and you decided to post this on EID? That's very low," @AbjaFCB wrote on Twitter, referencing the fact that in a lot of Muslim countries, homosexuality and other acts are illegal. The tweet got more than 10,200 likes.
Many people drew comparison's with Barcelona's arch-rivals, Real Madrid, who posted an image celebrating Eid al-Adha, a significant Muslim holiday that started on June 28 this year.
"Barca had all of June to do this yet they chose to post it on the day of Eid. [Not gonna lie] that's extremely disrespectful," wrote @laligafrauds.
Another user said: "Waiting just to post it on Eid. Disgusting club."
@Sarky_sultan said he will "never support Barcelona again."
Another user, @NekreSale, went as far as to post a screenshot of an email he sent to Barcelona, officially resigning from supporting the club.
Dear @FCBarcelona,
— Nekre✊ (@NekreSale) June 28, 2023
Subject: Resignation as a Supporter of @FCBarcelona
I hope this letter finds you in good health. I am writing to formally submit my resignation as a loyal supporter of FC Barcelona. It is with a heavy heart that I make this decision, https://t.co/LQrFiNigjS pic.twitter.com/z80P0KIM6h
A number of other people also denounced Barcelona, showing examples of themselves unsubscribing, or stating their intention to switch allegiances and support archrivals Real Madrid instead.
The large number of negative comments and critiques of Barcelona's decision to support International Pride Day caught the attention of other soccer fans, who expressed their confusion and anger.
"Replies tell you how bigoted so many football fans continue to be," popular soccer Twitter account @EifSoccer wrote, retweeting Barcelona's Pride post. "Why should we be surprised that racism continues in stadiums, discriminatory chants continue in stadiums, and that players rarely ever come out publicly? Still so much work to do as people and football fans."
Pointing out the replies to Barcelona's post, @Raunaksood99 also expressed dismay.
"Will never ever, for the life of me understand how people can have such a big problem with organizations expressing their support for the LGBTQ+ community," they said. "You can't hide behind religious beliefs when you're actually really just homophobic. It's 2023."
Newsweek has contacted the FC Barcelona press department for comment.
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