Ralph Lauren Dropped Golfer Justin Thomas Over Homophobic Slur

Justin Thomas looking disappointed wearing Ralph Lauren Polo

"His actions conflict with the inclusive culture that we strive to uphold."

Mikelle Street

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.

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Mikelle Street

January 16 2021 4:33 AM EST

November 04 2024 9:43 AM EST

MikelleStreet

A week after top golfer Justin Thomas uttered a homophobic slur at a tournament, he's seeing the fall out of his actions. While the PGA Tour previously said they would likely fine the athlete, Ralph Lauren has now dropped him.

"We are disheartened by Mr. Thomas's recent language, which is entirely inconsistent with our values," the company said in a statement. "While we acknowledge that he has apologized and recognizes the severity of his words, he is a paid ambassador of our brand and his actions conflict with the inclusive culture that we strive to uphold. In reflecting on the responsibility we have to all of our stakeholders, we have decided to discontinue our sponsorship of Mr. Thomas at this time.

"As we make this decision, our hope is that Mr. Thomas does the hard and necessary work in order to partner with us again - truly examining this incident, learning, growing, and ultimately using his platform to promote inclusion." Ralph Lauren trended on Twitter Friday night after releasing the statement.

Last Saturday, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Thomas said the slur after missing a putt. The same day, a little later he made an apology, saying that what he had done was "inexcusable."

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Ralph Lauren has notably promoted inclusion in the past and increasingly so over the last few years. In addition to their Pride campaign, for Holiday 2020 they included the families of same-sex couples Greg Berlanti and Robbie Rogers as well as Aweng and Alexus Ade-Cuol in their campaign.

According to Golf Channel, Thomas has worked with Ralph Lauren since he turned professional in 2013.