Welsh Soccer Player Arrested After Homophobic Tweet About British Divers

Welsh soccer player Danny Thomas was suspended by his team two days ago after he posted a homophobic tweet about two British divers. The tweet read: “If there is any consolation for finishing fourth at least Daley and Waterfield can go and bum each other #teamHIV." Thomas apologized and the matter appeared to be over. Apparently not.

Police have now issued a statement saying: “South Wales Police has arrested a 28-year-old man from the Port Talbot area in connection with offensive comments made on the social networking site Twitter. “The man was interviewed at Neath police station and has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.” Club chairman Andrew Edwards confirmed with the BBC it was Mr Thomas, saying: “He was called in by police and arrested yesterday [Wednesday] and is on conditional bail. “It will be some time next week so, pending the police investigation, he’s still under suspension. “We’ve taken legal advice and, when the police inquiry is concluded, we will deal with it from then.”

Commenters on the above-linked Pink News article are mixed in their reactions. One writes:

This is ridiculous. Daniel Thomas is a bigot and a moron, but he wrote a stupid, bigoted comment on a social networking site. He did not engage in violence, nor did he incite violence. I think that after the riots of last summer the police have decided that Twitter is dangerous and that anything deemed offensive will mean that you get arrested. Watch now how bigots far more dangerous than this imbecile footballer will use his arrest as evidence of how gays are destroying freedom of speech. I cannot believe how stupid the police are being.