Stephanie Rice has now been forced to give back a car worth over $100,000.00 as a result of a homophobic tweet she made. The comments are potentially defamatory, discriminatory and asked to give back her Jaguar which was given to her by the car manufacturer in a sponsorship deal earlier this year.

Rice had tweeted the statement ‘suck on that faggots’ in relation to a win by the Wallabies in South Africa recently which inflamed backlash against her in the gay community and the broader community. Rice is still counting the cost of the tweet. Jaguar Australia’s marketing and public affairs manager Mark Eedle confirmed that the company’s sponsorship of the swimmer has been terminated.

“We made a decision yesterday, and we’ve terminated the agreement with her,” Eedle said. “We will be taking the car that she’s been using back,” said Eedle. Another of Rice’s sponsors, Sun Rice, said it could not comment on its sponsorship of the swimmer at this time.

Famous sporting personalities who are openly gay such as Ian Robertson have denounced the gold medal swimmer as an ‘Idiot’. Her comments have obviously drawn fire from all sections of the gay community. Anecdotally, it is not the first time Rice appears to have suffered as a result of a backlash from a comment which reflects the mind of a young person with some relatively narrow minded views on the world. It is disturbing that a person so revered for her sporting achievements can make a comment which reflects such prejudice.

If Rice had said such things aimed at one person specifically, it is likely that she would have to contend with legal action on the basis of the comments. However, because she was referring to the South African rugby team in general and none of them have complained specifically, it is unlike to become a legal issue. If an employer fired someone and then made such a statement this would also be grounds for a case of discrimination.