Major League Soccer has fined LA Galaxy midfielder Sebastian Lletget an undisclosed amount and suspended him for two matches for the use of a homophobic slur in an Instagram post on April 9, the league announced Friday. Lletget will also be required to attend diversity, equity and inclusion training through Athlete Ally.
Lletget will serve the two-game suspension during the Galaxy’s next two regular season MLS matches, against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday (5:30 pm ET | FS1, Fox Deportes) and against Seattle Sounders FC on May 2.
In a statement, MLS added that it "acknowledges and appreciates Lletget’s prompt apology and the accountability he has taken for his actions."
Lletget, who used the slur in a video he posted to his Instagram account, deleted the post and issued an apology.
"I messed up and I'm trying to take full responsibility for it," Lletget said. "I said a word that shouldn't have been said. And although there's been a lot of discussion and debate about the meaning of the word because of different dialects in Spanish and cultures, the truth is it's a harmful word and it shouldn't have been said.
"This was a poor decision on my end and it was a moment of just pure stupidity. I'm a human, I made a mistake and that's simply what happened. But now I want to rectify that."
