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Simmonds speaks: Gayle’s on-air behaviour was unacceptable
KADEEM SIMMONDS argues that Chris Gayle’s treatment of reporter Mel McLaughlin was sexist and unprofessional and not ‘just banter’
A YEAR ago, almost to the day, Eugenie Bouchard walked off a tennis court in Australia to conduct an interview with Ian Cohen of Chanel Seven. After asking about her dominating performance over Kiki Bertens in the Australian Open, Cohen asked Bouchard to “give him a twirl.”
Bouchard was taken aback by the question but Cohen continued went on with his job and even asked Serena Williams the same question a day later.
There was a little outrage at the time but after a few days it was forgotten about. A year later and the incident has been totally forgotten about. It shouldn’t be. And given what happened in Australia on Monday, it should be revisited.
During a Big Bash League match between Melbourne Renegades and Hobart Hurricanes, Channel 10 reporter Mel McLaughlin asked Renegades batsman Chris Gayle about his innings. A simple, professional question. Just what you expect from a journalist.
Gayle responded by first talking about his performance but very quickly changing the subject, saying: “I just wanted to have an interview with you as well, that’s why I batted so well.” McLaughlin’s response is interesting because she clearly isn’t flattered. Anyone that took to social media to say that she laughed it off or seemed fine with it clearly needs to visit an optician.
She nods but once she registers what was said, looks down and away from Gayle. The commentators in the studio, or wherever they were positioned, it doesn’t matter, let out a chuckle.
Gayle doesn’t stop there though. He says that hopefully they can win the game but the next words to come out of his mouth are: “Then we can have a drink after as well. Don’t blush, baby.”
At this point McLaughlin is left with her mouth open, clearly shocked. She shakes her head and tells Gayle that she is not blushing.
Gayle and the commentators are laughing. This isn’t a funny situation. McLaughlin does brilliantly to get back on track and asks Gayle about any injuries he has. Gayle’s response: “Hopefully I can finish the tournament, recover well and look in your eyes.”
McLaughlin had had enough and rightly so. She says she will leave it on that note and Gayle laughs again, apologising as she walks off camera.
What part of that sequence was funny? How can anyone not find that disrespectful, embarrassing and sexist?
She is there to do a job, not be asked out by cricketers. People have tried to pass it off as “banter” and that she should take it as a compliment that Gayle finds her attractive and asked her out on TV.
But it is the total opposite and shows how far there is to go before women are properly respected in society, not only in the media but in all walks of life.
I wasn’t expecting people to wake up on Friday morning having totally changed their sexist or racist views. Just because we are now in 2016 it doesn’t mean things will have changed. But I also didn’t expect to be writing about a professional athlete sexually harassing a reporter.
I have seen tweets saying that this is getting blown out of proportion and that if Gayle was white or female this wouldn’t be an issue.
If that was the case, this article would still be written. It is not acceptable, regardless of age, race, sex or where it takes place.
Some have brought up the Maria Sharapova incident where in a press conference she was asked a question by Australian sports journalist Lachlan Wills to which she interrupts him and says: “You have so much good self-esteem when you speak, it’s really nice.”
Not the most appropriate response but I would hardly call that flirting, which is what it was reported as.
She then asks Wills to repeat the question as she “was just admiring your form.” Take that as you will, she could be talking about his looks or that he stands up straight when he talks. Either way, it is something that could be left for after the press conference.
I have seen reporters comment on managers or a players attire or looks but it is done off camera and before the dictaphones are switched on.
I am not calling for all athletes, male or female, to never fraternise with or ask out journalists. However, there is a time and a place for that. It is not on air or during an interview.
Gayle could have approached McLaughlin after the match and shown her a lot more respect.
Female journalists have to work a lot harder to be taken seriously in this industry and it doesn’t help when athletes look at them like a piece of meat in a shop window.
You wouldn’t interrupt your boss during a meeting to tell her she looks amazing in a dress or tell your company’s chairman that he looks great in his suit when he is giving you a promotion.
So why do people think what Gayle or Cohen did is acceptable? And what is it about Australia that makes men forget their manners, how to treat women or how to act professionally?
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