Mon. September 6, 2010
Sydney, Australia -
Australian Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice has lost her marketing deal with Jaguar after using the word "f**gots" on Twitter.
Rice Tweeted "Suck on that f**gots!" after Australia's rugby team beat South Africa this weekend, reports the Herald-Sun.
She later Tweeted: ""Okay so maybe I got a bit too excited before!! But I love seeing Australians do well".
And then, even later (undoubtedly after some kind of intervention): "I did not mean to cause offence and I apologise. I have deleted it from the site."
It was too late for Jaguar, which is taking back their car and their sponsorship.
Rice is also the spokesmodel for a popular Australian underwear brand, Davenport. It's not clear if they're going to dump her, too.
A gay Australian diver, Matthew Mitcham, came to Rice's defense on (where else): Twitter: "It was offensive & very thoughtless, but being friends with her for 2yrs, I know she is not homophobic. … She luvs gays but used very ill-chosen language."
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