Australian NBL star banned from two games after homophobic tweet

An Australian NBL basketball star has been slapped with a two-game ban after posting a vile homophobic tweet.

Perth Wildcats player Corey Webster was instantly called out by fans for the blatant homophobia he displayed in the now-deleted tweet, which was also condemned by both the NBL and his basketball team.

As a result of the hateful post, Webster has been issued a two-game ban – though the player won’t miss out on any regular season games.

One of the two games that Webster sat out was Tuesday’s (September 19) pre-season game against the Adelaide 36ers.

The Adelaide 36ers are home to the NBL’s first openly gay player, Isaac Humphries.

Webster’s second game ban will only be enforced if the basketball star makes any more homophobic remarks or posts, StarObserver reports.

Webster was reprimanded after taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday night (17 September) and replying to a post that asked: “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see this flag”, accompanied by the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Pride flag.

Webster replied to the tweet with the now-deleted comment: “Mental illness.”

When fans and followers started calling out Webster for the repulsive comment, he posted a follow-up tweet that read: “PROTECT THE CHILDREN”, and put his social media profile on private.

The following day (18 September), the Perth Wildcats issued a statement along with an apology from Webster.

“While it certainly wasn’t my intent, I understand the hurt my comments have caused and I am sincerely sorry for this,” his apology read.

“It wasn’t how I intended my comments to be perceived and I will take a break from social media and use that time to better educate myself on the impact comments such as this can make on individuals I may have offended.”

CEO of SEN Teams and owner of the Perth Wildcats, Richard Simkiss, added that Webster’s tweets did not reflect the basketball team’s values.

“We are really disappointed in these comments and have made this clear to Corey. They don’t reflect our values, and we have committed to working with Corey to help educate him about the harm such comments can bring,” said Simkiss.

“As a community-driven club, we stand for inclusiveness and have strongly supported the NBL’s Pride Round. We look forward to promoting this initiative again in the upcoming season.”

After sitting out one pre-season game already, Webster will now be free to take part in the Wildcats’ first match of the season against the Tasmania JackJumpers next week.