Gay Olympic athlete got a cruel anti-gay message on his DMs. He’s not staying quiet about it.
Jack Woolley was told by a follower that he was a “role model” in taekwondo, but then received a homophobic message. The post Gay Olympic athlete got a cruel anti-gay message on his DMs. He’s not staying quiet about it. appeared first on Outsports.
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Two-time Olympian Jack Woolley is encouraging other LGBTQ athletes to “be vocal” when confronted with homophobia on social media.
Woolley spoke to Outsports about his disappointment after being sent messages on Instagram from a follower who initially praised the Irish taekwondo athlete, only to then reply to a story post with a homophobic insult.
The post was an image of Woolley kissing his fiancé, Dave. The couple announced on St Patrick’s Day in March that they are engaged to marry, having started dating back in 2021.
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Woolley shared a screenshot of the exchange of DMs.
The issue of abuse in social media messages directed towards athletes has been back in the news recently after professional tennis player Katie Boulter, the British No 2, went public about what is sent to her inbox.
Data science firm Signify, which works with governing bodies across a range of sports, revealed that on social media last year, around 8,000 abusive and otherwise awful messages were sent to the accounts of 458 tennis players.
Meanwhile, a 2024 report into a pilot study conducted by Signify looking at cruel messages sent to participating athletes during the NCAA Championships found that 9% of more than 72,000 abusive messages were homophobic or transphobic in nature.
Woolley is a prolific Instagrammer, with around 120,000 combined followers across his public-facing athlete and personal accounts. He’s keen to put the problem into context but accepts that he’s more confident than most in handling it.
“The obvious thing to do would be not to look at it,” Woolley said. “It is less than 1% of the interactions — so why ignore all the DMs and comments, when the majority of them are loving and supportive?”
That’s not to say it doesn’t sting when the messages are discriminatory. The startling shift in tone seen in the shared screenshot would be an example of that and while the user, according to his first message, lives in a country with anti-gay laws, it’s no less upsetting to read.
Woolley appreciates that other LGBTQ athletes may not be as thick-skinned as him, or may not be publicly out, which would almost certainly mean they wouldn’t feel comfortable taking a public stand.
There are relatively few options available. “From my experience, it’s best just to block the accounts, unless they are people you need to interact with in your sport,” he adds.
“As athletes, we travel the world to train and compete, and not everyone will be as accepting as you’d like to think.
“If you receive any abuse or hate online from someone you might cross paths with at your sporting events, I’d recommend screenshotting the evidence and making an official complaint.
“It becomes more than just online abuse — it becomes personal, and can make us feel unsafe to compete in our sports.”
Jack Woolley says people should know that athletes face abuse
Woolley is currently living and training in Madrid, building towards the World Taekwondo Championships which will be held in Wuxi, China, in October.
He was back on the top of the podium with a -63kg gold medal at the Greece Open in late May, following an eight-month break from the sport during which he won a legion of new fans thanks to his performances on Ireland’s “Dancing With The Stars” TV show.
(@jack_woolley_oly)As he told Outsports before the Paris Olympics, being in a relationship has boosted his confidence as an out gay man compared to how he felt before falling in love with Dave, and he’s now embracing a variety of advocacy opportunities to inspire young people.
The impact in society of negative social media is increasingly noticeable. “It’s such a serious topic,” he says. “What people would never say to our faces, they are commenting online.
“It can lead to mental health issues, athletes feeling unsafe online and also in their place of training and competition.
“There needs to be better measures put in place by social media platforms. Of course, we should all make sure our settings protect ourselves from it, but there is only so much we can do.
“I spoke out about this incident because I was confident enough to do so. Unfortunately, not everyone is the same and it can cut a lot deeper to people who are struggling.”
Woolley acknowledged that people also receive cruel messages based on their race, gender and other parts of who they are.
“I feel like athletes who suffer any abuse online… need to be vocal about it, and call it out,” he said. “Sometimes we forget that 99% of interactions are positive, but we also need to show people who look up to us as role models that we deal with this stuff too.”
There is limited data available on the levels of anti-gay abuse being sent to out gay and bi male athletes on social media.
Some insights more generally have come from men’s soccer, with a report after the FIFA 2022 World Cup revealing there was more homophobic abuse directed at players than abuse for race, even though there were no out LGBTQ players at that tournament.
Woolley was one of just 20 men to be publicly out as gay or bi while competing at the Paris Olympics, 0.38% of the entire total of male athletes at the Games.
He’s enormously proud to represent and be that role model for others. It’s why the U-turn from the homophobic Instagram follower was particularly frustrating, as well as being dispiriting.
“Unfortunately, it’s not going to stop overnight,” adds Jack Woolley. “But as I’d say to any gay athlete, know that you’re not alone and you can still live a happy, successful life regardless.
“Power to each and every one of us.”
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The post Gay Olympic athlete got a cruel anti-gay message on his DMs. He’s not staying quiet about it. appeared first on Outsports.
