Reynold Poernomo, a contestant on the inaugural season of Masterchef All-Stars is under fire after a slew of homophobic posts shared on an online forum were unearthed.
As Daily Mail Australia report, the 26-year-old chef shared a vitriol of homophobic comments on a bodybuilding.com forum in 2014, months before featuring on Season 7 of Masterchef Australia.
In a thread that posed the question ‘First gay couple featured on the Disney Channel. Do you agree with them?’, Reynold under the username ‘reyreyy’ shared a harrowing response.
“I wish the world made a united decision where they will capture all gay people and put them on a remote island full of gays, that way straight ppl (people) will be happy and the freaks can go on and f** themselves,’ the then 20-year-old wrote.
In an another thread, “Is homosexuality a mental illness?” the contestant wrote “Yes end of thread.”
Poernemo issued a statement to Daily Mail expressing remorse for the comments.
“I would like to offer my sincere and deepest apologies for the comments that I made in 2014. I am ashamed of these comments and I regret them immensely,” he wrote.
“At the time these comments were made, I was a very immature, close-minded and insular 20-year-old. I have grown and matured a lot in the last six years. I am not the person I was back then.
“I have many friends and colleagues that are part of the LGBTIQ+ community. I wholeheartedly support them and care deeply for them. I am truly sorry and apologise for any offence or hurt I caused.”
Brendan Pang, Khanh Ong, Reece Hignall and Courtney Roulston are all currently contestants of Masterchef All Stars who identify as members of the LGBTQI community.
During the series, our king Khanh Ong has been wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the message ‘you are loved’ by LGBTQI youth charity, Minus18.
It’s shocking and dissapointing but we advocate for the idea that people can change, and we profoundly hope that Poenermo’s acknowledgement and apology is built on a bedrock of sincere change.
