Gay Brazilian Footballer Possibly Outed on Television

In the macho, masculine world of sports the issue of homosexuality is rarely seriously discussed. This is certainly true in football. How many openly gay players have you read about? How many players don’t have WAGs, but rather HABs – husbands and boyfriends?

I can’t think of a single player playing today who has come as being gay, which is why I find it interesting that the issue is on the front burner in Brazil right now. The details of the story are that a player currently playing in the Paulista is contemplating coming out of the closet on national television. The identity of the player is not known, but as is always the case with something like this the speculation has begun.

An apparent slip of the tongue on-air by a soccer club manager may lead a pro player in São Paulo, Brazil, to bring civil and criminal charges. José Cyrillo Jr., a manager with the Palmeiras team, answered a question on the “Debate Bola” TV program about rumors that a player from rival São Paulo was arranging a national television interview to come out.

Asked if the unnamed player was from Palmeiras, Cyrillo responded, “No, Richarlyson was almost with Palmeiras.” Richarlyson has now asked an attorney, Renato Prata Salge, to review video of Cyrillo’s interview to determine his legal options.

Meanwhile, Richarlyson’s agent denied his client was gay, and a legal expert said that, having suggested Richarlyson was the rumored gay player, the legal burden would be on Cyrillo to bring forward evidence to support the accusation.

What kind of evidence could Cyrillo bring forward to prove Richarlyson’s gayness? Well, he is the one on the right in this video, but if that is sufficient evidence alone then there might be more than one gay player on the team.

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Category: South America, World Football