Football quarterback Caleb Williams was filmed with a pink phone case while sitting courtside at an NCAA women's basketball game on Monday night. Since then, X has become awash with homophobic tweets and memes targeting Williams. Until recently, Williams played football at the University of Southern California and is set to be drafted this year.
On March 25, the NCAA Division 1 women's basketball account shared a video of Williams watching a USC women's basketball game. In it, he waves his hands, showing that he has a pink phone case and a light pink wallet.
Williams reposted the tweet, writing, "vibes onlyyyyy supporting our girls."
Many responses to the NCAA's tweet ridicule Williams and disparage him for being gay. Williams is currently dating a woman and hasn't made any public comments on his sexuality.
"He has a pink phone case?" an X user tweeted. "Ive seen circles straighter."
"Michael Sam walked so Caleb could fly….just wait for the 'reveal,'" another person wrote. Michael Sam is an openly gay football player who was released from the Los Angeles Rams after he came out in 2014.
Other replies call Williams "Gayleb Williams," a queen, sassy, and included crude jokes about him in football locker rooms.
Memes posted on X also called Williams homophobic slurs, said he wears heels rather than football cleats, featured GIFs of effeminate men, and compared him to Dylan Mulvaney. Mulvaney is a transwoman who was vilified by the right after she partnered with Bud Light.
"Caleb Williams is a Dylan Mulvaney wannabe," an X user tweeted. "Complete with pink finger nails, lip gloss, and phone!"
An NFL 2021 ad affirmed that the LGBTQ community is welcome on its teams and in its fandoms, but many NFL players (and as is evident, fans) have made homophobic statements in the past.
Williams hasn't responded to the homophobic backlash he received writ large—though he did roast a sports reporter who made fun of his pink phone case. Separate from his football career, Williams also runs an anti-bullying and mental health awareness foundation called Caleb Cares.
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