A US sports journalist Grant Wahl, who is in Qatar to cover the FIFA World Cup, proclaimed that he was shortly held by security staff for wearing a rainbow t-shirt to the US’s World Cup opener against Wales on Tuesday.
The tweet by Grant Wahl caused a fuss on social media, with many loaning him support while others, primarily Qatari nationals, school him to respect the “culture of the region”.
Supporting the incident, many Local Islamists hail the incident and ridicule westerners and took this matter to microblogging sites.
Taking to Twitter, An outspoken Qatari academic, Dr Nayef bin Nahar, added, “As a Qatari, I’m proud of what happened. I don’t know when westerners will realize that their values aren’t universal. There are other cultures with different values that should be equally respected. Let’s not forget that the West is not the spokesperson for humanity.”
Another Qatari national tweeted in support of the incident and added, “Respect the culture of the region and follow the rules as a civilized person.”
Grant Wahl had tweeted that he was prevented from entering the stadium for the US-Wales game. “Just now: Security guard refusing to let me into the stadium for USA-Wales. “You have to change your shirt. It’s not allowed,” he tweeted.
Grant was stopped from entering the stadium while wearing a rainbow shirt supporting the LGBTQIA+ community in a country where same-sex relations are banned.
The journalist also claimed his phone was seized when he tweeted about the incident. He was then detained for 25 minutes and told to remove his t-shirt.
Earlier, seven European countries ditched plans for their respective captains to wear ‘OneLove’ armbands after FIFA threatened to issue yellow cards to any player wearing the multi-coloured armband, which was raised to support diversity and inclusion.
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