Sacked AFL footballer Jason Akermanis has hosed down suggestions he's named gay players and those who use illegal drugs at recent public functions.

The former Western Bulldogs star is said to have named current players who take drugs and those who are homosexual at two functions in Mildura this month, The Age reported on Wednesday.

But Akermanis says all he did was confirm to the crowd that he had heard the same rumours about certain players during a question and answer portion of his speech.

"Often those are the questions that come up. There's lots of questions about ex-coaches, ex-players," he told the Nine Network on Wednesday.

"And sometimes they ask (if) we heard these rumours about this player and this player. `Is he gay?' And I said `Well, I've heard those rumours too in Melbourne but that's all allegedly and I was not there so I don't know.'"

In May, Akermanis faced a possible human rights complaint after he urged gay players to stay in the closet.

His oft-controversial comments through his growing media career and forthcoming book eventually led to his team loosing confidence in him and sacking the Brownlow medallist before the end of the season.

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