After receiving widespread support and appraisal for his social media statement, news began to emerge that Casillas was joking.
Hours later he deleted the "I'm gay" tweet. Attempting to clear up the incident, Casillas again took to Twitter and claimed that his account was hacked and apologized to his followers .
"Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community," he wrote.
Cuenta hackeada. Por suerte todo en orden. Disculpas a todos mis followers. Y por supuesto, mas disculpas a la comunidad LGTB. ?
- Iker Casillas (@IkerCasillas) October 9, 2022
Reports in Spain suggested that he posted the message out of frustration about recent media rumours linking him to new women every week, including stories that he was dating Shakira, hence he ironically tweeted that he was gay.
The report adds that Puyol knew about the 'joke'.
He has now also deleted his tweet.