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Are tank tops gay?! Teammates mocked World Cup champ soccer star’s photo — and it kicked off

Benjamin Pavard posted an image of himself in a tank top to Instagram. What happened next played into French football's homophobia problem.

By Jon Holmes |

Inter Milan's Benjamin Pavard has won more than 50 international caps for France. | Fabrizio Andrea Bertani / Shutterstock

A photo of Benjamin Pavard in a tight-fitting tank top moved his France international soccer teammates Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele to tears.

That’s what fans recently saw on Instagram. So why has Pavard’s tank top set off such strong emotions?

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A post shared by Benjamin Pavard (@benpavard21)

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All three players were members of the squad that won the FIFA World Cup in 2018. Mbappe and Dembele posted multiple “loudly crying face” emojis on the post.

Another Les Bleus star, Marcus Thuram — who also plays his club football alongside Pavard for Inter Milan — commented: “I’m at a loss for words.”

It won’t have been the intention, but this image of a sultry-looking athlete in a white tank-top has since become something of a cause célèbre in the fight against homophobia in football.

The reactions of Mbappe, Dembele and Thuram appeared to open the floodgates for others to poke fun at Pavard. Such is the state of social media, many went way over the line.

The campaign group Rouge Direct was invited to write about what happened for the French website Medipart. Their op-ed was titled: “Benjamin Pavard has no right to break the virile codes of football.”

“The cyberwave of denigration, humiliation and homophobic comments against Benjamin Pavard has been boosted by star footballers,” Rouge Direct said in its column.

“They have clearly never been made aware of the discrimination linked to sexuality and gender identity that is plaguing football, the pitches, the stands, and therefore also the minds of the players and personalities among the most influential in the world, especially for young people.”

An over-the-top challenge? Here’s the background.

French football has a serious ongoing issue with anti-LGBTQ language and behaviour. Chants containing slur words continue to be sung without consequence at top-flight men’s games. Authorities and campaigners have repeatedly failed to agree on the best way to tackle this.

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When YouGov surveyed fans across Europe’s major leagues last year, 38% of those in France said homophobia was a serious problem in their national game — considerably more than in Italy and Spain, the next highest with 24% each.

The interactions of Pavard’s fellow internationals on his Instagram post don’t constitute anti-gay hate. Those same players may have been horrified to learn later about the homophobic deluge that followed from their chirping comments.

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A post shared by Julien Pontes (@rougedirect)

But it’s not a stretch to say they strayed into irresponsible behavior online, given the context. Ignorance is no excuse.

For several years, Rouge Direct and other groups have voiced their frustrations over the general lack of awareness on LGBTQ-related matters in French football, and the ramifications this has on a marginalized community in the sport.

Now we have an example of professionals publicly policing the perceived masculinity of other players. It’s a sorry sight.

Even GQ France tried to deconstruct why the simple undershirt — “often considered the ultimate symbol of heightened masculinity”, when worn by movie stars like Marlon Brando and Bruce Willis — was being reassigned within football as feminine, and by extension, for the gays.

“Pavard has become the new ambassador of the white vest,” wrote Blanche Marcel, “the main character of a fashion trend whose existence he probably never would have suspected.”

It’s far from the first time that Pavard has been targeted with homophobia. With his boyish good looks and the inquisitive nature of the Italian media, scrutinizing his social posts since 2023 when he signed for Inter, there has been gossip about his sexuality.

In July last year, he announced his engagement to actress and model Kleofina Pnishi, a former winner of “Miss Provence.” Posts containing photos of the couple together are only a little further down his Instagram feed.

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A post shared by Benjamin Pavard (@benpavard21)

That doesn’t matter much to the trolls targeting athletes who they consider to be transgressing traditional gender norms.

What Rouge Direct is rightly concerned about is influential players reinforcing the kind of binary boundary-setting that prevents others from feeling free to express themselves.

Laying on assists for the haters to take their homophobic potshots is just dumb. This is about more than a few emojis — it feeds into a sporting culture that still says “man up” and “act tough.”

Consider a young player who ends up overthinking his appearance, his mannerisms, how he carries himself, and gets stuck in his head when his focus needs to be on football.

Clamping down on chirping isn’t the solution — when everyone’s in on a joke, it helps to create unbreakable bonds that can even lead to World Cup glory. In any case, studies suggest that locker room environments in men’s pro sports are much more accepting places nowadays.

But the comments section of an Instagram post has none of that camaraderie. It’s the corner of a school playground in which bullies dish out humiliation and hate.

It’s just a photo of a man in a tank top. French football has a serious homophobia problem. Plus ça change.

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