Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has been stood down by his BBC radio show amid allegations of racist behaviour.
Vaughan has denied the claims of former Yorkshire teammate’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Azeem Rafiq.
Rafiq claimed in a report into systemic racism within the club that Vaughan said “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it,” in regards to the quartet of Asian players at the club.
“I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words,” Vaughan said in his column for the UK Telegraph.”
https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1456651955896475659
“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.”
But Naved reiterated the claims overnight, after confirming in a 2020 interview with Cricinfo about Rafiq’s allegations.
“There was systematic taunting and it’s tough to do much about it. To us as overseas players from Asia, when you are not able to perform, the home crowd which should be supporting us, instead they started hooting and would taunt us with racist slurs like ‘Paki’,” Naved said.
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Yorkshire have lost several sponsors and chairman Roger Hutton resigned as a result of information in the report – including an admission by former Test player Gary Ballance that he used the slur ‘Paki’ while talking to Rafiq.
“It has been reported that I used a racial slur and, as I told the independent enquiry, I accept that I did so and I regret doing so,” Ballance said in a statement.
The BBC issued a statement in regards to Vaughan’s future on his radio show with Phil Tuffnell.
“We were made aware of a single allegation which Michael strongly denies and we have been monitoring the situation closely.
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“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 topical discussion around current cricketing matters and given his personal involvement, we need to ensure we maintain the impartiality of the programme. We remain in discussion with Michael and his team.”
Vaughan made his England debut in 1999, and was made captain in 2003. He has enjoyed a long career in the media since his retirement from the sport in 2009.