BBC axes commentator Michael Vaughan from cricket coverage amid racism allegations

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has been axed from BBC’s 5 live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show on Monday after being accused of making a racially insensitive comments to Azeem Rafiq.

It was alleged that Vaughan told Rafiq and two other Asian players that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”

Ex-Pakistan bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan told ESPNcricinfo that he also heard the alleged comment.

Meanwhile, Vaughan – who played for Yorkshire between 1993 and 2009 – totally denied making such remarks.

In his column for The Telegraph, Vaughan wrote: ‘In December 2020 I was asked to speak to the independent panel formed by Yorkshire to investigate Rafiq’s claims.

‘The night before I was due to give evidence, out of the blue, I was hit with the news that Rafiq was alleging that in 2009 before a Yorkshire match against Nottinghamshire, I had said to Rafiq and two other Asian players as we walked on to the field together that there are ‘too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’.

‘This hit me very hard. It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator.

‘I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words.’

We take any allegations of racism extremely seriously: BBC

The BBC in their statement said: “(We) take any allegations of racism extremely seriously. The allegation against Michael Vaughan pre-dates his time working for the BBC, we were not part of the investigation conducted by Yorkshire County Cricket Club and we have had no access to the subsequent report.”

“However, we were made aware of a single allegation which Michael strongly denies and we have been monitoring the situation closely.”

“We have made the editorial decision that Michael won’t appear as a presenter on 5 Live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show on Monday.”

“The show focuses on discussion around current cricketing matters and given his personal involvement, we need to ensure we maintain the impartiality of the program. We remain in discussion with Michael and his team.”

Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton resigned earlier on Friday, accusing the club’s executives of failing to accept and learn from racism allegations made by Rafiq.

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November 06, 2021 at 10:00AM