January 26

Gay slurs? They can cost you.

Last autumn luxury car maker Jaguar cut its sponsorship of star Australia swimmer Stephanie Rice, a triple Olympic gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, after she sent a tweet using a gay slur. After Australia's rugby union team, the Wallabies, defeated South Africa's Springboks, Rice tweeted "Suck on that, faggots."

The 22-year-old swimmer, who won both individual medleys at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was part of Australia's victorious 4x200 freestyle team, later apologized and removed the comment, but the damage had been done.

Perhaps the most vocal anger came from Australian gay rugby icon Ian Roberts, who said, "She is an idiot ...and anyone who continues to endorse her as an athlete is an idiot as well. And I say that with a very sad tone in my voice. What a fool. And if her sponsors don't do something about it, they're fools as well...I also like seeing Australians do well, but it is never acceptable to offend and insult gay people by using such slurs."

In fact, Jaguar general manager Kevin Goult announced that his company had withdrawn its sponsorship. "Jaguar Australia today terminated its relationship with Stephanie Rice, who has been an ambassador for the Jaguar brand in Australia since the start of 2010," he said in a press release. Local media reported that Rice would be losing the late-model +$100,000 Jaguar that she had been driving since striking the deal (shown in photo above). Ouch.


Back to the boys with tan lines.