Liam Gallagher Apologises For Tweet Seen As Homophobic

There’s a time and a place for everything. Or maybe there isn’t!

Liam Gallagher, the Mancunian rocker of Irish background, found himself in hot water today, because of a tweet, which was deemed “ugly and upsetting.”

In his original tweet, Gallagher – who is one of Hot Press’ favourite interviewees – was referring to the ongoing violence between English and Russian fans at Euro 2016.

He tweeted: "Russian hooligans skintight shorts bumbags batty boy muscles ha ha I'd be more worried bout getting me arse pinched LG X.”

For the uninitiated, “batty boy” is Jamaican slang for someone who is homosexual. Historically, there is a huge problem of homophobia in Jamaica, including among the country’s Rastafarians.

"Many years ago,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes recalls, "I remember Hot Press asking the singer Denis Brown about his attitude homosexuality – and he railed loudly against ‘dem batty guys', within earshot of a gay RTE television producer. It was both sordid and embarrassing.”

Jamaica is one of the almost 80 countries in the world still with anti-homosexuality laws on the statute books: homosexual acts between males are punishable by sentences of up to 10 years in prison, though lesbian sex is not illegal. Jamaica is known as one of the most homophobic countries in the world, with a very high incidence of homophobic attacks. More encouragingly, the first ever gay pride march took place in the capital, Kingston, in 2015.

The gay Coronation Street star Anthony Cotton didn’t take kindly to Liam’s twitter remark.

He responded: "Especially in light of what happened in Orlando a few days ago, that tweet is ugly and upsetting @liamgallagher #NoBystanders.”

While Liam Gallagher is generally defiant and strongly anti-PC, here he was gracious in his reaction.

"If I've upset anybody with my tweets I apologise,” he posted, "that includes you RKID as you were LG x."