US journalist ‘detained’ while trying to enter FIFA World Cup stadium in rainbow t-shirt

Free to read: What happened when Qatar World Cup security detained me for 25 minutes for wearing a t-shirt supporting LGBTQ rights, forcibly took my phone and angrily demanded that I remove my t-shirt to enter the stadium. (I refused.) Story: https://t.co/JKpXXETDkH pic.twitter.com/HEjr0xzxU5

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) November 21, 2022

New York-based journalist Grant Wahl, who went to watch the USA vs Wales game, claimed he was denied entry to the stadium for wearing a rainbow t-shirt, an LGBTQ+ symbol. He said security guards detained him for 25 minutes and demanded that he remove his t-shirt.

“’You have to change your shirt’, one guard told me. ‘It’s not allowed’,” Wahl wrote in a blog describing the incident.

In Qatar, homosexuality is a criminal offence; the Qatari government does not recognise same-sex marriages. Despite the law, FIFA has frequently insisted that fans would be able to display the rainbow flag during the World Cup.

“One security guard told me that my shirt was ‘political’ and not allowed,” Wahl added in his blog.

As fellow journalist Andrew Das from The New York Times walked past Wahl, he was allegedly detained too when Wahl tried to explain to him what was happening there. Wahl was then allegedly made to stand and face the CCTV cameras and was asked about his nationality.

Later, a security commander apologised to Wahl and let him through. “One of the security guards told me they were just trying to protect me from fans inside who could harm me for wearing the shirt,” he wrote.

“A FIFA rep later apologised to me as well,” Wahl stated.