Ian Roberts Fights Back

Rugby legend and former Advocate cover subject Ian Roberts has joined in a legal complaint against Australia's Network Nine over an antigay skit the network aired in 2009, Australia's Geelong Advertiser reports.

The mockumentary-style skit, aired on the network's "The Footy Show," featured the fictitious gay brother of rugby siblings Matthew and Andrew Johns--named Elton Johns. In the skit, the Johns's father tries to return the gay brother to the hospital, saying, "I want to return this, it's faulty." The gay brother is also asked if he dated the openly gay Roberts.

Roberts joined a legal complaint filed last year with the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board by activist Gary Burns. "What really hurt me was that they used my name to justify that somehow a gay man who likes rugby and lives up to the stereotypical image of a man is somehow better than a man who doesn't like sports and is into the arts," Roberts said.