Geelong star Bailey Smith responds to Mad Monday backlash after Mitch Brown said ‘Heath Ledger’s way hotter’

Geelong star Bailey Smith has fired back after he was criticised for his social media posts during Geelong’s Mad Monday antics.

The AFL’s first openly bisexual player Mitch Brown called out Smith’s series of controversial Instagram posts during the Cats’ end-of-season celebrations, particularly an image of Smith and Patrick Dangerfield referencing the film Brokeback Mountain, captioned, “this is what losing a granny does to ya.”

In response, Brown posted a picture of Heath Ledger from Brokeback Mountain, writing, “Just for the record, Heath Ledger’s way hotter.”

He then followed up with another pointed remark: “Last time I checked, losing a Grand Final doesn’t make you gay, but being homophobic definitely makes you a loser.”

On Monday night, Smith appeared to reply with an Instagram story of Ledger raising his middle finger.

Many members of the gay community, including comedian Josh Thomas, have spoken up in support of Smith, describing him as an ally and rejecting claims that he is homophobic.

On Tuesday, Smith continued to respond to supportive comments online, sharing posts from Thomas and from Jaimie Sultana, the wife of Australian musician Tash Sultana, who performed at the grand final with Snoop Dogg.

Sultana wrote, “Can confirm the lad loves the gays so yall can shut the hell up soooo tired of this let’s cancel every c*** coz we are cry babies taking everything out of proportion. leave the dude alone he’s as human as any of us.”

Smith responded by posting three love hearts on his Instagram story.

Thomas added, “we’ve got to stop calling people that aren’t homophobic homophobic. It widens the divide and alienates people.”

He continued, “He never said losing the grand final makes you gay, that intention was insinuated by other people and then was ran with as raw fact.”

The fallout comes amid further controversy, with veteran journalist Caroline Wilson blasting Smith for an “insulting and sexist message” after he mocked her in a now-deleted Instagram post.

During the celebrations, Smith’s teammate Max Holmes arrived dressed as Wilson, a moment Smith posted online with the caption, “Caro has never looked better,” paired with a sweat droplets emoji.

Wilson’s criticism follows her previous comments, branding Smith a “brat” after an incident involving a female photographer at a training session.

Amid the drama, Geelong’s football boss Andrew Mackie addressed the club’s position, stating, “Obviously, we’re not perfect. We don’t stand here and pretend to be … Every now and then, there’s things that pop up that ideally don’t, but we can only learn and educate from here our players and our people.”

Mackie dismissed reports that the club had lost track of Smith, saying, “No, that wasn’t all factual – I was aware what he was up to.”

He reiterated confidence in the club’s management of Smith, adding, “But, like I said, I get the interest in Bailey. But him playing footy this year is a real success story for the game … we’re all not perfect. We’ve just got to continue to keep working together and those little moments that might bubble away, we’ve just got to keep on educating.”