Australian former professional rugby Player Israel Folau (or Izzy for short) has slammed the LGBTQ community again in a vicious Instagram post that he shared on Wednesday, April 10.
“Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent,” he wrote as the caption. “Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.” He then followed that up with quotes from the Bible that he believes relates to what he is suggesting.
Israel, 30, doesn’t just got after homosexuals. Drunks, adulterers, liars and more are also included on his list of people that he thinks will “end up in Hell” if they don’t repent.
The backlash he received after posting this was quite large. Several people criticized him for his viewpoints, with one wondering why the social media platform is allowing him to share something like this.
“Why is @instagram letting this happen!?,” one wrote. :Can you not see how much anger this has caused. Dividing people. Discrimination. Inequality. HATE SPEECH. I have tried reporting this and so many other people have tried yet Instagram believes this does not violate their community guidelines. HOW?”
It’s also hurting his professional career as well. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rugby Australia and the NSW Rugby Union have signaled their intent to terminate Folau’s multimillion-dollar four-year contract after unsuccessfully being able to contact him over the past 24 hours.
This is the best short story I’ve ever read. pic.twitter.com/cBNA4XsmEG
— Andy Lee (@andytomlee) April 11, 2019
Israel shared a very similar sentiment in April 2018. In recent years he has come under fire for his views that many see are homophobic. He’s also written an article defending his words, saying in part “People’s lives are not for me to judge. Only God can do that.”