Man banned from Facebook for declaring his love for pork faggots
A man has been banned from Facebook after being accused of homophobia, because he wrote a comment about his favourite childhood dish, pork faggots.
Writing “I like faggots”, on Facebook was enough to get Robert Wilkes, 54, banned. Many have pointed out that this ban came just a week after Facebook lifted its ban on videos of beheadings.
Despite referring to faggots the British dish, typically made from pork offal, Mr Wilkes was banned under the understanding that he was using faggot as a derogatory term towards gay men, which originated in the US.
In an interview with the Sun, he said: “It may have a different meaning in America but I used it in a food context.
“Facebook allows beheading videos, cruelty to animals, stabbing and terrible swear words – but not this. It’s political correctness gone mad.”
Mr Wilkes posted the comment in response to a picture posted by Eileen Perrin, who posted a picture of the dish on the social media site.
The 68-year-old’s account was locked for 12 hours after posting the photo.
She said: “A lot of people on the Facebook group found it very funny and started saying things like ‘free Eileen’.
“I felt like Deidre from Coronation Street when people campaigned to get her out of jail.”
Facebook simply said the word had been misinterpreted.
The site, which has 1.2 billion members, came under heavy criticism last month for removing a ban on videos of people being decapitated.
A statement by Facebook read: “We will consider whether the person posting the content is sharing it responsibly, such as accompanying the video or image with a warning and sharing it with an age-appropriate audience.”
It continued: “People turn to Facebook to share their experiences and to raise awareness about issues important to them.
“Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve graphic content that is of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism, and other violence.
“When people share this type of graphic content, it is often to condemn it. If it is being shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate violence, Facebook removes it.”
The story in question was about rapper Azealia Banks, who called blogger Perez Hilton a “messy faggot” and said that he should “kill himself”. Two previous versions of the story had previously been posted without deletion.
