World Cup ambassador from Qatar denounces homosexuality and says he would have ‘cut a huge chunk out’ of his country’s football team
A Qatari ambassador was banned from flying to the United States because he has said that homosexuality is a “sin” and that he would have “cut a huge chunk out of his country’s football team”.
Abdulfatah Al-Thani, a Qatari businessman and sports ambassador, was also banned from boarding an Air Canada flight to Toronto on Monday after he reportedly made the comments to a flight attendant during an altercation onboard.
Al-Thani was allegedly involved in an argument with flight attendant Michelle Zuniga on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha last week, after Zuniga declined repeated invitations to join him on the flight. The airline and the Canadian authorities claimed Al-Thani was carrying out a “public campaign” against the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
The Qatari ambassador in the US was also removed from his job after publicly denouncing the country’s LGBT community. A separate Qatari-American businessman was also fired from his job after he denounced the country’s ruling family on Twitter.
The ambassador was also apparently upset by American media reports that Qatar’s team, which plays in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was “inclusive” and had allowed an LGBT supporter into the dressing room after the country’s victory over Ghana on Sunday night.
It is believed that Al-Thani was also upset by the reaction of Qatar’s national team and the country’s football authority to reports that the Qatari team had been asked to include the country’s ruling family in its team anthem. Al-Thani reportedly told Zuniga that Qatari teams “should know better” to allow such symbols into their stadiums. ‘”We are in a country where you go to eat, you go to drink
