UFC star Darren Till rarely strays too far from controversy and has once again hit the headlines after he was reported to Liverpool police for posting material to Instagram which allegedly 'encourages homophobia and transphobia'.
The complaint from an unnamed person stems from a series of memes and Instagram posts uploaded to social media by the UFC middleweight contender which supposedly made light of members of the transgender and homosexual communities.
One image uploaded by Till appeared to draw the ire of several people on Instagram and showed a 'transgender' woman receiving a pregnancy scan and was accompanied by the text: "have a good week everyone #positivity".
The post proved a divisive one, with several commenters indicating that they felt it crossed a line, while others reveled in the Merseysider's sense of humor.
"You're definitely gonna have some heat for that one!" wrote one fan in response.
"Here before the cancel community storms the comment section," said another.
Others, meanwhile, indicated that they found the image "disgusting".
Indeed, several of Till's recent Instagram posts appear to have been deemed controversial - but the aforementioned transgender one seems to have been the most controversial, and it was subsequently confirmed by Merseyside Police that they received an official complaint related to it who told the Merseyside Echo that "enquiries are ongoing".
Referencing the story, Till later tweeted: "The post got 100k likes… it was a successful day of posting on Instagram I would say… I’ve got a belter post this weekend for u, even more offensive. turn post notifications on!!!!
The post got 100k likes… it was a successful day of posting on Instagram I would say… I’ve got a belter post this weekend for u, even more offensive. turn post notifications on!!!! https://t.co/mU1o989c4c
The fighter also addressed the furor in a lengthy video on Instagram in which he defended the posts and said that they were meant as humorous and not intended to denigrate members of either the transgender or homosexual communities.
"As everyone knows I'm always posting very controversial things right, I'm never going to change ever, ever, ever," said Till.
"So the other day I posted this transgender meme, I thought it was funny and I knew it was going to get a backlash. I've actually got transgender friends, they thought it was hilarious.
"You can't cancel someone who doesn't give a sh*t and I don't give a sh*t. But at the same time as well it's obviously the offended brigade."
However, while Till sees this as another 'cancel culture' incident from a woke mob looking to be offended, LGBT campaigners said that jokes such as this can do serious damage in local communities.
"Transpeople have a hard enough time in life without public figures inviting ridicule and encouraging hate," said Drew Cockton, an active member of Liverpool's LGBT community, to the Daily Mail.
"More than nine in 10 transgender people have considered suicide and more than two in 10 have attempted it.
"Some of the comments on Darren's Instagram were truly appalling and deeply saddened me in light of the homophobic attacks in Liverpool recently and the prejudice encouraged by people who should be ambassadors for the city."
While Till appears set to stick to his guns, British actor Adam Woodward, who plays Brody Hudson on the popular television series 'Hollyoaks' has apologized after he replied to Till's offending post in which indicated that he found it funny.
"I would like to apologize for engaging with an offensive post on social media," he said in a statement. "The interaction is not indicative of my beliefs or attitude as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community."
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July 30, 2021 at 01:54AM
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UFC star Darren Till vows ‘even more offensive’ content after being REPORTED TO POLICE over transgender Instagram post
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July 30, 2021
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