Journalist comes forward alleging Chris Gayle exposed himself to her
West Indian Cricketer Chris Gayle is facing a barrage of criticism over inappropriate remarks to a female television reporter. And now an allegation has emerged that he exposed himself to a woman during a Sydney training session at last year's ICC World Cup came out.
The Australian woman was covering the West Indies team in Sydney, has explained the incident.
She went to the dressing room to grab a sandwich as she was hungry. She thought the players were on the field. Instead, she found the Jamaican in the room with one other player. He was wrapped in a towel, which according to her, he pulled down to expose his genitals to her while saying to her: "Are you looking for this?"
West Indies team manager Richie Richardson was told about the incident, but Gayle was not named. Richardson then sent an email to all West Indies players demanding to show respect to the women working around the team.
Chris Gayle exposed himself to me: Woman
The woman involved in last year's incident does not want to be identified, but has explained she was motivated to tell her story. She said "In support of Channel Ten reporter Mel McLaughlin last night, and to support the many other women working as career professionals in sport who shouldn't have to put up with this kind of treatment. It's that moment when you have a split second to react. I was shocked, and I just walked out."
"You put yourself in an office environment in Australia, and there's no way that's going to fly. Put yourself back in that deserted change room and it's somehow OK for a career professional to be subjected to sexual jokes and demeaning advances."
She added "Richardson was 100 per cent supportive of me. I had his absolute apologies and support."
When Richardson was asked about the allegations against Gayle from February, he said "At this point I have nothing to say about that or about what happened with Chris Gayle".
The woman says she felt disgusted when she watched the 36 year olds proposition to McLaughlin. Gayle went on to create a record against Zimbabwe in Canberra the very next day, when he scored 215. She said "It makes me sick that people like that are emulated as heroes when they behave like that towards half the population, there is nothing heroic about the way he conducts himself towards women."
However, Gayle's management declined to comment on the allegation. On 5 January a new revelation came as the Melbourne Renegades announced they would fine Gayle $10,000 for his controversial live interview with Channel Ten's Mel McLaughlin on January 4.
Gayle also delivered an apology and said his comments had been “blown out of proportion”. Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry described Gayle’s comments as a "one-off". Many other female journalists also came forward to detail inappropriate comments or advances by Gayle after the incident.