Eye of the Tiger: Gayle sparks outrage with swing and miss at Aussie presenter

You don’t earn a reputation as one of the most feared batsmen in the manic-paced 20/20 cricket arena by measured and judicious stroke play. And when the people writing your cheques see it fit to name their enterprise the “Big Bash”, a sorta adventurous, free-spirited nature is implied.

Boy did Chris Gayle ever read the conditions wrong when an attractive Channel Ten reporter, Mel McLaughlin, came walking over for a brief interview with the Melbourne Renegades and West Indies cricket star.

Photo: Awkward... Australian television presenter Mel McLaughlin (left) has little trouble dispatching Chris Gayle's pitiful pick-up line.
Photo: Awkward…
Australian television presenter Mel McLaughlin (left) has little trouble dispatching Chris Gayle’s pitiful pick-up line.

“Your eyes are beautiful, hopefully we can win this game,” Gayle told McLaughlin, “and then we can have a drink after as well. Don’t blush, baby.”

It was hard to tell whether Gayle—who is 36 years old going on 15—was channelling his inner-Tiger or bootlegging Austin Powers. Either way, his swipe outside the off stump hit only air.

I’m not blushing,” McLaughlin retorted.

And she really meant it.

It was as sad as seeing a three-year-old child try to tie his own shoelaces. Or watching Jack Warner try to pronounce: “electricity.” Or “extradition.”

Photo: Try it one more time: Ex-tra-dish-on! Former Chaguanas West MP and ex-FIFA vice president Jack Warner. (Copyright AFP 2015/Alva Viarruel)
Photo: Try it one more time: Ex-tra-dish-on!
Former Chaguanas West MP and ex-FIFA vice president Jack Warner.
(Copyright AFP 2015/Alva Viarruel)

Anthony Everard, the head of the Big Bash League, described Gayle’s comments as: “disrespectful and simply inappropriate.”

Melbourne Renegades CEO Stuart Coventry vowed to discuss the matter with Gayle and Cricket Australia and warned that: “There’s just no place for that sort of behaviour.”

Everard pointedly noted that the Big Bash was: “all about its appeal to kids, families and females.” Translation: we have no intention of messing with our ratings.

The Daily Mail, never one to miss an opportunity for moral outrage when it isn’t spying on celebrities and rummaging through voice messages left with the families of kidnapped victims, referred to the West Indian’s interview as: “sleazy.”

And what does Mr Live Wire think?

Photo: Australian television sport presenter Mel McLaughlin.
Photo: Australian television sport presenter Mel McLaughlin.

First, McLaughlin deserves the opportunity to get through her work day in peace without having to bat away unwanted advances. And she probably will once she crosses 50.

Second, the lightbulb that flashed over Gayle’s head as he produced his pick-up line was clearly on dim voltage. But then it must be hard to tell whether you are truly funny, handsome and charming when your bank balance has seven digits.

Gayle, sorry pal, but you are less (Morris) Chestnut and more Forest (Whitaker). And that can limit your options in terms of the women who blush at your advances.

Third, Gayle did not insult, grope or intimidate McLaughlin. He was simply childish, cocky and stupid. So perhaps the penalty should match the crime.

Photo: Neither of West Indies cricket stars Chris Gayle (right) and Dwayne Bravo have been shy about expressing their fondness for Australian television presenter Mel McLaughlin
Photo: Neither of West Indies cricket stars Chris Gayle (right) and Dwayne Bravo have been shy about expressing their fondness for Australian television presenter Mel McLaughlin

And, chances are when you have a microphone thrust at you as often as sport stars do, you will sometimes say some really stupid things.

Male reporter (in post-game press conference): “How long does it take you to get over the disappointment (of a loss)?”

Russian professional tennis star Maria Sharapova: “There is so much of good self-esteem when you speak. It is really nice… What was the question? I was just admiring your form.”

Chances are that if McLaughlin wants to take a stance against sexism in the workplace, she would not have to look as far as the Caribbean.

Channel Ten’s first response to Gayle was a slap on the back and, far from a private snicker, they shared the joke with the embarrassed television host and the rest of the world.

Photo: Chris Gayle was not the only one to get in a muddle over Mel McLaughlin. The Channel 10 social media team was not sure whether to praise Gayle or their own employee after the incident.
Photo: Chris Gayle was not the only one to get in a muddle over Mel McLaughlin.
The Channel 10 social media team was not sure whether to praise Gayle or their own employee after the incident.

Channel Ten tweet: “Gayle to @Mel_Mclaughlin: ‘Hopefully we can win this game & have a drink after. Don’t blush baby’ #smooth #BBLO5.”

It took another 10 minutes before Channel Ten’s social media manager recognised that maybe their employee wasn’t there as “eye food”, although the station still opted against rebuking the cricketer.

“Well played to our very own @Mel_Mclaughlin for staying professional during the interview. What a pro…”

Mr Live Wire does not want to cast aspersions but he has noticed over the years that, apart from the odd ex-world champion, female sport reporters at television stations tend to be strikingly attractive and generally blonde.

Photo: The Sunday Telegraph invited Australia's "top 18 female television personalities" for a photo shoot. (Copyright News.Com.Au)
Photo: The Sunday Telegraph invited Australia’s “top 18 female television personalities” for a photo shoot.
(Copyright News.Com.Au)

It is as though Tiger Woods hires them himself.

Whereas male reporters…

Photo: ESPN analyst and journalist Gabriel Marcotti.
Photo: ESPN analyst and journalist Gabriel Marcotti.
Photo: SportsMax presenter Simon Crosskill.
Photo: SportsMax presenter Simon Crosskill.
Photo: CCN TV6 sport host Serjio Du Four.
Photo: CCN TV6 sport host Serjio Du Four.

With all due respect to the gentlemen pictured above—who Mr Live Wire has the pleasure of all knowing professionally—none would probably reduce Serena Williams to a lustful, incoherent mess during a television interview. And, thankfully, we do not generally expect our male reporters to possess such powers.

The elephant in the room when it comes to the hiring of female reporters, so to speak, is a fox.

Which is not to say Gayle doesn’t deserve to be castigated for failing to read the wicket.

Sadly, poor Chris seems to be a relic from a bygone era who has struggled to come to grips with the 21st century and simply stands out like a sore thumb in progressive company.

Just like the West Indies cricket team.

Photo: West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dave Cameron (left) and cricketer Chris Gayle (right) during happier times. (Courtesy WICB)
Photo: West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dave Cameron (left) and cricketer Chris Gayle (right) during happier times.
(Courtesy WICB)

Editor’s Note: Chris Gayle subsequently apologised for his “simple joke” that was “blown way out of proportion.” Which sounded surprisingly close to Gayle saying: “you idiots just don’t get it.”

And Gayle was sweet enough to give his regrets to Mel McLaughlin with a sentence that included the word “if.” Awww… His apologies are as bad as his pick-up lines. But at least he patronised us.

(Full Chris Gayle “apology”)

“A lot of things have flared up from a simple comment, a joke, a simple joke on air and it seemed to went out of proportion.
“There wasn’t anything at all meant to be disrespectful or offensive to Mel and if she felt that way I’m really sorry for that. 
“There wasn’t any harm meant in that particular way to any particular person like that. 
“It was a simple joke, the game was going on. Entertainment, things get out of proportion but these things do happen.
“There wasn’t any harm done, I’ll leave it at that. I’m sorry for that, we’ll have to move on.”

Incidentally, former Australia World Cup and Everton footballer Tim Cahill and British television personality Piers Morgan both “get it” as evidenced by their tweets on the matter.

Photo: Former Australia World Cup footballer Tim Cahill and British television personality Piers Morgan were among scores of people who rallied behind West Indies cricket star Chris Gayle.
Photo: Former Australia World Cup footballer Tim Cahill and British television personality Piers Morgan were among scores of people who rallied behind West Indies cricket star Chris Gayle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1q5rXZskYk

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562 comments

  1. Wasn’t really an apology but I hope he learns from it. It was an inappropriate comment, very unprofessional making advances like that especially on live tv. I’m not perfect, I made mistakes in the past and I learned from them, I hope Gayle learns and also I hope others forgive.

  2. Wasn’t really an apology but I hope he learns from it. It was an inappropriate comment, very unprofessional making advances like that especially on live tv. I’m not perfect, I made mistakes in the past and I learned from them, I hope Gayle learns and also I hope others forgive.

  3. Mr Live wire u was going good until u put up my partner serjio du four!! lol

  4. Well, this is the first time I have ever heard about a caribbean celebrity being so forward with a female in the public’s eye.

  5. unprofessional… but very caribbean!!

  6. How many times have male athletes disrespected female reporters? But it continues to happen because people don’t want to call a spade a spade and start disciplining athletes for this misogynist behaviour.
    People defending that brute saying he was paying her a compliment. Excuse me? She wasn’t eye candy. She was doing her job. Why can’t a woman expect not to be treated that way on the job? Steups.

  7. She needs to be careful using such words as Mate around the likes of Gayle. He may interpret it differently.

  8. She is beautiful though. Mama mia!

  9. All this talk about sexual harassment is overboard, he choose to drop lyrics on live TV, ended up in embarrassment for him than anything else. The reporter handled her self well, she did her job, got her interview and left.

  10. Lol Lasana.
    Name of support group: League of Extraordinary Cads.

  11. Chris, it seems that not all high profile Aussies are condemning Chris Gayle at all

  12. Might not have such a thing as right and wrong but that don’t make it any less gross

  13. Vernal, maybe I should forget about that apology… Chris Gayle is getting public support… from celebrities too. Well yes!
    I guess there really is no such thing as right and wrong anymore.

  14. “Third, Gayle did not insult, grope or intimidate McLaughlin. He was simply childish, cocky and stupid. So perhaps the penalty should match the crime.”

  15. yep … he blew it … she’s a friend of mine too … she was highly unimpressed … insulted even

  16. Made quite an ass of himself, didn’t he? Pity the West Indies team has to claim him in this instance.

  17. A lot of Caribbean men like to FORCE a thing. They say something overtly sexual, they make the woman uncomfortable, she visibly shows she is uncomfortable and then they use that loss of power or uncertainty on her part to now say things like, “Don’t be shy baby.”

    It ain’t shyness. It’s discomfort, awkwardness and embarrassment which YOU caused because your attentions were not wanted nor are they reciprocated and now the woman is put off by having to deal with attention from someone she is not interested in and she feels bad for you and having to let you down.

    NEVER prematurely announce to a woman she has made you happy in your pants before you are certain the feeling is mutual. Don’t humiliate yourself like that. Play it cool. Keep it together. Wait for the indication there is chemistry there first. Otherwise you are just doling out lots of unwanted sexual attention in the hopes it lands and in the process making yourself look tusty.

    Most women (not girls) but WOMEN, if they like you, they not shy in the LEAST. They let you know. If you cannot as yet learn how to read female body language, then learn how. There are subtle and not so subtle cues of interest women give. Allow the thing to happen naturally and MUTUALLY. It is a wonderful thing when it does and is BOTH of you whose heart fluttering and feeling happy in your pants not just one person chasing after someone trying to force a thing that not happening organically.

    • I remember once running into a former student on my way home from work who happened to be Guyanese, it had been a few years since she graduated and I hadn’t seen her in a while. She happily approached me and gave me a hug and told me how well she was doing in Junior High School, as we were chatting we passed this house that was under renovation and the construction workers ( all Guyanese) on the roof began calling out to her in the most vulgar fashion. The more uncomfortable and embarrassed she became (because I was there witnessing it) the more vulgar the calls, she sped up and got out of there fast. I’m not going to go into detail regarding my response, but I was so shocked and disgusted that my stomach hurt.

    • It is a harsh reality of women and girls in the Caribbean and in many places. In some places it is worse. I read about what it is like to be a woman on the streets of Cairo Egypt and it is horrid. And no it does not matter the dress. The women there are in very modest clothes even hijab and the men just hurl sexual comments, invitations to come have sex and some actually follow and try to intimidate the women. Sad.

    • And what really disappoints me is that all those who pass this off as harmless flirting would be damn vex had someone spoken to the mother/wife/daughter that way at work.

  18. I wanted to mention that since yesterday Lasana.
    In many parts of the world where people of color are in the minority (and often where they are not) it is a common perception among whites and some others that Africans are lascivious by their very nature, that they are lustful brutes, predatory upon white (and often any non-African) women.
    This ass plays international cricket, representing the West Indies (an overwhelmingly African region) and he’s publicly and proudly drooling over a white woman who is clearly put off by his sexual advances?

    Nah man …… better dan dat!

    • Vernal Damion Cadogan that is a good insight. It is also historically true that part of dehumanizing the black man by the racist whites was to paint him in this manner. We have to remember that during slavery black men were treated as mindless beasts and were bred like studs to produce slaves of good stock. They were not allowed to have their own woman or be husbands because they were not even seen as human men capable of taking vows and heading a household.

      I hate the fact that far too many black men today choose to define their masculinity, not by nobility, leadership, intelligence, consciousness, responsibility, courage, empathy etc. but by those same racist standards imposed on him. How much women he can breed. They think THIS is what defines a REAL man who is not fassy, chasing every pair of tits and ass, fathering lots of children with different baby mamas and inadvertently fulfilling every single racist negative stereotype.

    • Gayle needs a history lesson so that he might desist from reinforcing negative stereotypes about the people by whom he is paid to represent.

  19. Another point probably not worth mentioning is Chris Gayle is lucky it is 2016 and he can get away with apologising in a press conference.
    If it were 1916, he might have made his peace at the end of a rope from a tall, strong tree.
    How is that for progress?

  20. Vernal, don’t forget that her employer’s, Channel 10, first response was “#smooth”

  21. Especially in an environment where they must interact with you.
    She wasn’t interviewing the beast to fertilize her eggs or even a date for that matter, she was interviewing him about the game he was playing professionally.

  22. A very inappropriate comment which shows what a little boy he is.
    Some men never grow up.

  23. Flirtation happens, we are only human. By flirtation I mean actual chemistry between two people and it is mutual. There is shared sexual tension. You can see looks of interest being exchanged, smiles, they lean in closer to each other and inadvertent touching happens. Flirtation is a two-way dance. It happens naturally, you don’t have to FORCE it. Either the magic there or it not there.

    In this case, it was not there. Only one person trying to throw out vibes and it falling flat. You can see her face fall and she gets uncomfortable. She goes stiff. She hastens to finish the interaction and get away from him. He on the other hand cannot take a hint from her initial reaction.

    If you dropping “vibes” and the first reaction is not positive and not being reciprocated but actually making the other person uncomfortable someone with their faculties in control of their urges, someone with empathy will immediately cease and desist. One-sided flirtation is nothing more than unwanted sexual interest and if continued, harassment. It does not matter WHO does it to whom, male or female, gay or straight. Don’t chase people who not chasing you. Respect people’s reaction to you. Allow attraction to happen naturally as it should.

  24. you know…you would expect that somebody as ‘spectacular’ as Gayle could observe the changes in the wind…notice a change in atmosphere…notice a woman’s face after the first dumb thing he said, but nope….he was clearly determined to play that stroke over and over. Again Orin, *insert lengthy conversation about state of WI cricket here*

  25. He obviously believes his own hype, that he is soooooo smooth. He shouldn’t. Tacky…tacky…tacky and absolutely unprofessional is all I can say.

  26. Look at this Lasana Liburd https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c-FIfVfvOMo Sharapova flirts with journalist

  27. whyyyyy ah feelin like this is some kindah bet?

  28. And Amery, the Channel 10 social media manager initially called Chris Gayle “smooth.”
    Who is running their twitter page? Dwayne Bravo?! Hahaha.

  29. Gayle is arrogant. Always has and always will be. He calls himself the Worldboss. But you highlighted a larger issue in your article. The objectifying of woman in Sport Media is getting ridiculous. Recently most sport programs must have a beautiful woman involved somehow. It is an obvious tactic to attract and keep the male audience.

  30. Gayle obviously couldnt fit his last f**k into his luggage, so he left it back home ah him Yard.
    therefore he had no f**ks left to give.

  31. Mr Live Wire struck some very crisp shots here. Not too sure about the calming effect of crossing 50 yrs though *cue photos of Angela Bassett*.
    Anyways, his immaturity and lack of situational awareness simply exemplify a common view among the famous that fame is equivalent to ‘irresistability’, and that irresistability entitles them to reach for what they want at any time and place. All of this no doubt fueled by the thousands of adorata who have fallen at their feet.

  32. I’m not sure what Gayle expected her response to be on live television. But then like I said… Low voltage on that lightbulb of his. 🙂

  33. The Aussie commentator said the young lady scurry off yes

  34. ..Of course! The side line reporters are ALMOST INVARIABLY female. Check the NBA,NFL, ESPN, etc. Yeah. Sex sells. But you don”t have to act like a cave man..

    • Yep. Certainly. I always suspected it started in the NBA when certain stars were refusing interviews but male reporters. But would invariably be snared when an attractive female reporters was holding the mic.

    • How r they being used as sex symbols if they’re are dressed professionally. Women journalists have long wanted to break into sports journalism. There are some doing play by play and analysis in basket ball but generally they start as sideline reporters until they learn the game they r covering. As far as I remember, there was only one ESPN reporter who was accused of such behavior because she used to show up in very tight fitting jeans. It is more accurate to say women have been used in advertising to promote sports,

    • .Let who is qualified have the job irrespectibe of gender. But c’mon man. “Pretty girls” have an advantage that men don’t when it comes to getting the job. You denying that? ..

    • Careful you don’t twist your argument into a pretzel. You cannot give women the opportunity to be sports journalists and still be accused of using them because they r pretty. Would u make the same argument for male sideline reporters at women’s games.

    • ..Don’t follow you. Women are often hired BECAUSE they are attractive. Including in sport tv. Sex appeal sells sport and sports programming. Isn’t that what cheerleading is all about? What? There are no male cheerleaders? Back to the real issue. Gayle is an arse. But don’t deny the fact that women are used to sex up the appeal of sports coverage man. Please..

    • I think we r arguing two different things. I’m talking about female journalists in sports. U have just demeaned every serious female sports reporter.

    • ..Ridiculous conclusion but if you think so – Cool..

  35. “With all due respect to the gentlemen pictured above—who Mr Live Wire has the pleasure of all knowing professionally—none would probably reduce Serena Williams to a lustful, incoherent mess during a television interview.” Simaan Crosskill, him a talk bout you.

  36. I don’t disagree with that. It is cringe worthy. Although I hope the reaction doesn’t go over the top.
    Because I think women have often been used as sex symbols in sport. That might be worth a discussion too.

  37. ..Makes the West Indian Man look like a neanderthal. Emblematic of WI players lack of professionalism and “air-headedness” Male bimbo..

  38. Gayle has some wetman’s version of Tourette’s syndrome

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