eBay removes listing for £500,000 Ford Fiesta because of ‘homophobic’ description
Auction site eBay has removed a listing for a 13-year-old Ford Fiesta as it deemed that it contained offensive language.
The listing for the 13-year-old Ford Fiesta had gone viral because of the nature of its description, however the same description that meant it reached £500,000 with still six days to go on the auction, was deemed “homophobic” by an LGBT rights group.
As the ad was widely shared, many of the sites that reproduced the listing, however, did entirely censor out the homophobic slurs.
The Fiesta, which had 103,000 miles on the clock, was listed by 21-year-old Jamie Rogers from Chelmsford, reports the Metro.
In its description he writes: “You can’t become a man until you’ve owned a proper lads car, so if you don’t buy this Zetec S you will always be spotty, your voice will never break properly and you will never beat your addiction to masturbation.
“So if you’re a teenager looking at making that next big step in your life, this is the car for you. If you’re a parent looking for a car on behalf of your son, this is the car for you. If you’re 35 years old still living at home and yet to be touched intimately by a woman, then this car is not for you, faggot.”
Continuing, he wrote: “Driving this car will increase the quality of your sex life, significantly.
“The sheer speed of this thing has torn paint away from the wheel arches revealing some rust. It’s filthy dirty inside and out, cleanliness is for batty boys.”
LGBT charity and support service Galop responded to say that it was offensive, and urged eBay to remove it.
Dr Marianna Tortell, interim chief executive at Galop said: “The perpetuation of homophobic and misogynist stereotypes and statements such as in the Ebay ad serve to reinforce the context in which hate crime against LGBT people takes place.”
A spokesman for eBay said: “We don’t allow listings with offensive language, and we are removing this listing immediately.”
The ad has now been removed from eBay.