Alviro Patterson wrote:He dodged a bullet anyway, bet that drink with the journalist would have been a bore fest.
She shouldn't be in the job, or at least be plain in appearance. Not as if Chris Gayle made reference to a certain body part.
While I agree that the public outcry has gone over the top, an outcry was justified, nay, it was
necessary. Your comments, Al, illustrate this. After all, this happened in a country where violence, abuse and public degradation of women is a national disgrace, and the amount of comments that have come out on social media today slinging crap at McLaughlin have shown how this sort of reaction will need to happen again and again before the vast majority of neanderthals have some idea of how wring their attitudes and behaviour is. There is a huge underlying sentiment that men are allowed to force themselves onto women, that a "little persuasion" is OK. Behaviour like Gayle's just encourages and justifies it.
Fair enough, what Gayle did was at the lower end of the spectrum, but it was done on a very public forum and done by someone who has a great deal of public sway/influence.
Look, I am no doubt still fairly sexist myself, but I at least was immediatley uncomfortable with Gayle's comments.
So, what did he do so bad? Coming from a moderate sexist, the explanation is going to fall way short of all the problems with what some of the "feminazis" will spout. My main issue is that he didn't even pretend to treat McLaughlin as a person, but merely as an object to be toyed with. Any question that he answered was only done so in a way to fashion another poor pickup line. Does anyone on this forum really call women "Baby"?
It was sexist, that's a given, it was bullying, using his position of power, and it was also pathetic. Gayle probably won't want to come back next season after this, but I sincerely hope that all of the BBL franchises opt not to woo him.
As for your comments, AP, I can only hope they were a joke.
*she shouldn't be in the job* - google her career history. Very good, knowledgable and well respected.
* bet that drink with the journalist would have been a bore fest* - from what I've seen her anchoring a few tournament broadcasts, she is witty, quick and entertaining - as one women coralling a bunch of ex sportsmen, she has done well.
*or at least be plain in appearance* - surely this was a joke...?
Because some overpaid, oversexed egomaniac can't keep his mind off his crotch for 2 minutes? Let's go back to my point about the necessity of this outcry.