Darren Till banned from Instagram? MMA star posts transgender meme that gets police involved
Darren Till was reportedly banned from Instagram after he posted an "offensive" meme mocking transgender pregnancy on Instagram. However, his account seemed to have been reinstated as he boasted with a post that read, "You can't cancel someone who doesn't give a shit."
The British mixed martial artist who currently competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship has more than a million followers on Instagram. His profile seemed to have been temporarily banned on Friday, July 30, after he posted an "offensive" meme ridiculing gay and transgender people. He has posted the meme on July 26th but it only went viral a few days later. The MMA star, with 350,000 followers on Twitter, was accused of homophobia and transphobia on Twitter as he was 'canceled' by outraged netizens. Other MMA fighters who have recently been in the news include Rebecca Dillashaw, Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev.
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Till's banned from Insta after police report
According to Liverpool Echo, one of the memes posted by Till mocked transgender pregnancy. The post was reported to Merseyside Police who have said that “enquiries are ongoing”. Soon after the police report made against Till, Instagram put a ban on him. As a result, anyone trying to access Darren’s Instagram profile, was greeted with a message that said “sorry this page isn’t available”.
Following his ban, Till took to Twitter to reveal that he did not regret the "offensive" Instagram post. He 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
— D (@darrentill2) July 29, 2021
Till's Instagram account was reinstated after a few hours of ban. Soon after getting his social media page back, the MMA fighter celebrated by posted an all-black post with the words, "You can't cancel someone who doesn't give a shit" written in white. He captioned the post, "The return of the king."
Till's fans speak out in defense
The backlash continued against Till following his boast. "If someone is clearly being discriminatory online and committing a literal criminal offence of hate crime, they need to be held accountable immediately. This is causing such a backlash of transphobia and could spiral so far out of control. This is exactly how sophie lancaster ended up getting murdered, due to hate and stereotyping being spread. Let’s not let it happen again. People think it’s a joke and laugh but it’s disgusting and it’s a HATE CRIME @MerseyPolice @lpoolcouncil do something about Darren Till. 2/2," one of them wrote.
This is exactly how sophie lancaster ended up getting murdered, due to hate and stereotyping being spread. Let’s not let it happen again. People think it’s a joke and laugh but it’s disgusting and it’s a HATE CRIME @MerseyPolice @lpoolcouncil do something about Darren Till. 2/2
— Shannon Griffiths (@ShanGriff20) July 30, 2021
However, Till was defended by his fans. "Can’t get cancelled if you don’t care," one wrote, while another said, "'Slammed online' by what? A few people? They act like it’s the whole of Liverpool....never change Darren, if the police get involved, we’ve got your back lad." A third noted, "F**king king we love you Darren!!!" One more quipped, "Freedom of speech my man." The next remarked, "It’s been on for over than a year now.. cant afford missing some truth and wisdom in these dark age of pc were living in." A commenter tweeted, "Hilarious post as most thought, we just unfortunately live in a society with a handful of attention seeking mings who are looking for their next opportunity to be offended...keep up the content lad"
“Slammed online” by what? A few people? They act like it’s the whole of Liverpool....never change Darren, if the police get involved, we’ve got your back lad.
— 𝕄𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝔸𝕟𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕝 (@TIMEUK101) July 29, 2021