LAFC Threatens Fans with Ban After Homophobic Chant vs. Sounders

The Los Angeles Football Club is threatening to ban fans from its home games if they continue to use a gay slur during games.

Per TMZ Sports, fans at Banc of California Stadium were chanting a Spanish-language slur during Sunday's game between LAFC and the Seattle Sounders.

"The offensive goal kick chant is wrong and not what we are about," LAFC officials said in a statement to TMZ. "We ask that all of our fans and Supporters work to hold each other accountable to eliminate this from Banc of California Stadium."

During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Jim Buzinski of OutSports.com explained the translation of the word "p--o" and how it is used in an offensive and demeaning way.

"The word is slang for 'f-g' or 'man whore' or 'coward,'" Buzinski wrote. "Some say its use in soccer is a cultural phrase that means cowardly and is not directed at gays, but the meaning is clearly designed to mock the opponent as weak and unmanly."

MLS commissioner Don Garber, who attended Sunday's LAFC game, said the league will put a stop to fans using the derogatory term in the stands.

"It shouldn't happen, and it will stop," he said, via Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times. "We are not just concerned about it. It defies everything we stand for. I've spoken to ownership during the game. They get it. And I have real confidence that it'll stop."