Sport

Norwich City football club’s wholesome Pride Month message has gay Twitter in stitches

Norwich City FC's Pride campaign 'abuse wall'

Norwich City FC’s Pride campaign didn’t quite go down well. (Twitter)

A new homophobic slur has apparently dropped – “twink”.

British football team Norwich City FC tweeted on Wednesday (8 June) a graphic listing dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ insults and remarks, ranging from “d*ke” and “tr*?ny” to “you kick like a girl” and “no homo”.

“This language is not OK and never will be,” the club tweeted.

But tucked away in the “Pride wall” was the word “Tw?!k”. Twitter users were stumped, to say the least, about what the phrase could be – and many assumed it was meant to say twink.

“Twink”, named after the cream-filled American snack Twinkie, is slang for young, hairless, petite men. Dictionary-definition Hollywood twinks include Timothée Chalamet and Troye Sivan.

There are many types of twinks, from the hunky muscle “twunk” to a “femme twink”, a thin man whose mannerisms don’t exclusively fit into traditional masculinity.

The fact that a phrase so heavily used in queer culture was listed as a taunt among “f!gg?t” and “b#tty b*y” had queer folk cackling and taken aback that the football club actually tweeted it in the first place.

https://twitter.com/LucasOfSunshine/status/1534663600647938048

Jokes aside, the mural was met with fierce criticism from Pride Canaries, Norwich City FC’s LGBTQ+ fan group.

“Proud Canaries were asked to take part in the project,” the group wrote in a Twitter statement. Pride Canaries said the team approached them to take part in an “upbeat” film that would see players and fans throw rainbow rainbows on a concourse wall.

But alongside the “inclusive graffiti mural”, the club made the “abuse wall”.

“The finished edit is far from positive,” the statement continued. “Viewers, including those from our community, are subjected to the sight of a lexicon of slurs – regularly uses to target LGBTQ+ people – for almost the entire duration of the production.

“That error of judgment was compounded exponentially yesterday with the launch tweet, ironically stating that ‘this language is not OK’ while platforming it.

“We’ve asked the club to delete the film in its current form, apologise quickly and work with us, Norwich Pride and the broader fan base to make it good.”

The “abuse wall” was set up in Carrow Road Stadium, home of the Premier League side team. Players later chucked cans of colourful paint on it as part of the club’s “A home for everyone” campaign.

“These words are the reasons I have difficulties in my life,” said Proud Canaries member Tim Carr in the video as part of the campaign. “They’re the reason I don’t hold my husband’s hand, they’re the reasons I’m not overly out with my sexuality.”

PinkNews contacted Norwich City FC for comment.

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