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‘I was victim of homophobic abuse – just because I took my cat for a walk’
One half of Instagram favourites Lupin in London was subjected to homophobic abuse just for walking his cat in a public park.
Jerome and Jacques, who have been together for eight years, are proud daddies to Russian Blue, Lupin, also known as “London’s favourite therapy cat”, and their Bengal Rajah, whom the pair deem to be “London’s favourite leopard looking cat”.
The pair and their cats have amassed 140,000 loyal fans thanks to their feel-good content, which offers busy and often stressed Londoners much-needed free pet therapy.
“The aim of what we do is to bring joy to people,” Jacques said of their content.
‘It was shocking. It shook me up’
However, on Sunday (18 January), Jerome was subjected to a vile encounter with someone who called him a homophobic slur simply because he was walking his cat in the park.
He captured the incident on camera and posted it on their Instagram account.
Speaking to PinkNews about the incident, which has been reported to the Met Police, Jerome said he and his partner had experienced “off” meetings with the culprit before, but it had never escalated this far.
“It took me a while to process it,” he said, adding: “It didn’t feel real, even when he said it. I almost blacked out and couldn’t really fathom what had happened.”
Jerome said he went straight home and watched the footage, which led to him being partly surprised, but also unsurprised, “because I know there’s that side to people, especially right now”.
“It was shocking. It shook me up. I didn’t feel like leaving the house the day after. I felt very emotional. It’s not okay,” he said.
‘I will not tolerate it anymore’
The 33-year-old has sadly had prior experiences of this nature but said he’s proud that this time he stood up for himself and remembered to film the encounter.
“I don’t think anyone should have to go through that,” he said, adding: “I will not tolerate it anymore.”
“I want people who go through this to understand it’s not okay, to call it out for what it is, and to realise there is often intent behind these actions,” he said.
Last year, Home Office figures showed a marginal decrease in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes. However, the data did not show the full picture, as it excluded the Met Police.
It’s widely known that a significant amount of crime against the LGBTQ+ community goes unreported. In 2017, the government’s National LGBT+ Survey showed that a staggering 91 per cent of respondents did not report their most serious incident of anti-LGBT+ hate crime to the police.
A spokesperson for the Met Police told PinkNews: “We were made aware of a report of a hate crime incident on Monday, 19 January.
“The Met has a zero tolerance to hate crime, and an investigation has been launched into the circumstances. At this stage, no arrests have been made. Enquiries continue.”
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