One of their heroes, Alex Hales, has been censured for an old social media photo that showed him posing in blackface, just days after England won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the second time after defeating Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Alex Hales, the champion of England’s T20 World Cup, has received criticism over a previous social media post in which he was depicted wearing blackface.
Hales, who on Sunday helped Jos Buttler’s team win in Melbourne, was shown in a photograph from 2009 on Facebook dressed as rapper Tupac Shakur. The photo was made public in 2021.
The England and Wales Cricket Board’s regulation 3.3, which deals with actions “which may be harmful to the interests of cricket,” was broken, according to the 32-year-old, who accepted his wrongdoing.
The ECB withdrew an additional charge related to the anti-discrimination policy of the governing body, and Chris Tickle, an adjudicator for the cricket discipline panel, determined that Hales’s prior apologies and lack of malice aforethought were factors in his favor.
Tickle made the rebuke and ruling public but did not issue a fine or fees and did not formally request any additional contrition.
He was well known for liking Tupac and rap music, according to Tickle. He was a favorite musician of Mr. Hales. No one, either at the time or since has taken offense.
Response towards Alex Hales
“Mr. Hales has recognized that he would not dress in that way today, but at the time he did not think his acts were racist or insulting. He is wiser and more experienced. Given that backdrop, I conclude that his attire and the way he posed for the picture were not done with any kind of racist or discriminatory intent.”
Ateeq Javid, a former player for Warwickshire and Derbyshire, was also censured for a string of antisemitic Facebook messages he sent to racism whistleblower Azeem Rafiq in 2011.
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