Real Madrid and Spain legend Iker Casillas has said his Twitter account was hacked after a post earlier on Sunday in which he claimed to be gay.
Casillas shocked social media with the original tweet, which went viral around midday Sunday and was later deleted without explanation.
“I hope you respect me: I’m gay. #happySunday,” the original tweet read.
Many media outlets were quick to report the news of Casillas’ “exit”, but the brevity of the statement raised many suspicions.
The same goes for the response from 41-year-old former Spain team-mate Carles Puyol, who tweeted: “Now is the time to tell our story, Iker.”
Both Casillas and Puyol faced backlash online after it was rumored that the former Madrid goalkeeper posted the tweet as a ‘joke’ because he had been romantically involved with various women in the media.
Casillas later deleted the post, which had been retweeted or quoted more than 50,000 times, but initially offered no explanation.
Cuenta hacked. Por suerte todo en orden. Disculpas a todos put followers. Y por supuesto, más disculpas a la comunidad LGTB. 🙏October 9, 2022
This came later as he wrote on Twitter: “Account hacked. Fortunately everything is in order. My apologies to all my followers. And of course, no more apologies to the LGBT community.
Puyol has not yet given an explanation for his response.
