Is Chris Gayle some sort of perverted misogynist or can everyone just settle down?

[Spark]

Have you?

no, but i'm choosing to take at face value the word of her colleagues and friends who have familiarity with this situation, who have said that she was hurt by the comments.

 

[Prince EWS]

Imagine for a moment that she'd reciprocated his feelings by saying "sure, I'll have a drink with you" and they'd had a drink and become a couple and married and got pregnant. Suddenly they'd be splashed on the cover of every paper and TV screen for a week and the Big Bash and CA would have a feast on the publicity and everyone would be apples and smiling. Social media would be reporting on the amazing love story and girls would be saying "nawww, I want that".

We're a trivialized, and trivial society.

I think you're missing the fact that he knew she wouldn't accept. If he wanted to ask her out he had plenty of ways to do that which would have had much higher chances of success, and I don't for a second believe that he didn't know that.

If it was genuine you could just put it down as a silly thing to do and move on.. but it wasn't, which suggests his motivation was play up to his reputation as a bad-ass ladies' man. The lack of respect required for the interviewer to put someone in such an obviously uncomfortable position while they were doing their job just for that reason takes it out of the realm of "silly" and into the realm of "absolute dick move".

I don't think getting into a debate over whether it was mysognist or whether it was ***ual harrassment in Cricket Chat is going to prove useful given people have different ideas about what those terms mean and we'd end up talking at cross-purposes, but I definitely think this was more dickish and disrespectful than it was just silly.

 

[Red]

no, but i'm choosing to take at face value the word of her colleagues and friends who have familiarity with this situation, who have said that she was hurt by the comments.

What, from the little back peddling dance speech "Howie" made after the interview? The sanctimonious one that he made after you could hear the boys giggling as Gayle talked to her?

 

[thierry henry]

or imagine that she was there to ask about the cricket. at a game of cricket. because it's her job to ask about the cricket, and she's a professional doing her job.

stunning, i know.

In your heart of hearts, what factors do you think contributed to her getting the job?

Disclaimer: I do not think the factors behind her getting the job mitigate inappropriate behaviour towards her to any extent.

 

[hendrix]

Imagine for a moment that she'd reciprocated his feelings by saying "sure, I'll have a drink with you" and they'd had a drink and become a couple and married and got pregnant. Suddenly they'd be splashed on the cover of every paper and TV screen for a week and the Big Bash and CA would have a feast on the publicity and everyone would be apples and smiling. Social media would be reporting on the amazing love story and girls would be saying "nawww, I want that".

We're a trivialized, and trivial society.

There is plenty of opportunity to talk to her during a time when she's not on live TV trying to do her job and be taken seriously as a cricket journalist rather than just a pair of "nice eyes".

 

[Spark]

In your heart of hearts, what factors do you think contributed to her getting the job?

Disclaimer: I do not think the factors behind her getting the job mitigate inappropriate behaviour towards her to any extent.

in my heart of hearts, i don't know. is she in that role for eye-candy related reasons? yeah, maybe. but maybe she's just good at her job.

quite frankly i don't care either, for the reason you outline in your disclaimer.

 

[Spikey]

close this thread

 

[hendrix]

In your heart of hearts, what factors do you think contributed to her getting the job?

Disclaimer: I do not think the factors behind her getting the job mitigate inappropriate behaviour towards her to any extent.

1. She can talk freely on camera in front of millions of people and not freeze up. This is a very difficult thing to do.
2. She likes cricket and knows about cricket
3. She represents a demographic that 10 is trying to appeal to.

I know what you're trying to imply and sure, it does help that someone's nice to look at. But that shouldn't prevent them from doing their job.

 

[Spark]

What, from the little back peddling dance speech "Howie" made after the interview? The sanctimonious one that he made after you could hear the boys giggling as Gayle talked to her?

yes, because obviously he couldn't have just said that because he realised it was wrong. but ok...

Farrell: Well you just said there Gerard that you don't get the full context till you hear the whole thing, but it's when you see it as well. The one person I just feel so sorry for in all of this is Mel McLaughlin.

She just shouldn't have been put in that position. She was clearly uncomfortable, and to have that happen on live television - I've known Mel for years, as has Neroli, she is an absolute A-grade journalist and broadcaster and it is just horrible to see her put in that position.

It's just upset me straight away. I feel really sorry for because is in a difficult position now where if she says something she is going to be lambasted, and if she doesn't say something she is going to be lambasted. She has got to rely on the people around her to stand up for her and actually say 'That's not ok'.

Meadows: I knew straight away he was going to do it, the moment he got out I knew he was going to go off and was going to say something to that effect because he has done it before, he's done it to me, he's done it to several women.

He does this constantly. He is a creep. He has creepy behaviour and the way that he did it to Mel was just that. Mel knew it was going to happen, you could tell by her body language as somebody who has worked with her, she pulled away, you could see in her face: 'Yeah okay mate, righto, we knew that this was going to happen'.

 

[Red]

FTR I don't think what Gayle did was "right". But nor do I think it was particularly wrong either. It's not something I'd do, but I'm struggling to understand the hostility behind all the posts on social media I'm seeing. Essentially he said she has nice eyes and asked her for a drink.

 

[Spark]

I think you're missing the fact that he knew she wouldn't accept. If he wanted to ask her out he had plenty of ways to do that which would have had much higher chances of success, and I don't for a second believe that he didn't know that.

If it was genuine you could just put it down as a silly thing to do and move on.. but it wasn't, which suggests his motivation was play up to his reputation as a bad-ass ladies' man. The lack of respect required for the interviewer to put someone in such an obviously uncomfortable position while they were doing their job just for that reason takes it out of the realm of "silly" and into the realm of "absolute dick move".

I don't think getting into a debate over whether it was mysognist or whether it was ***ual harrassment in Cricket Chat is going to prove useful given people have different ideas about what those terms mean and we'd end up talking at cross-purposes, but I definitely think this was more dickish and disrespectful than it was just silly.

isn't he married as well? like, seriously.

 

[Prince EWS]

in my heart of hearts, i don't know. is she in that role for eye-candy related reasons? yeah, maybe. but maybe she's just good at her job.

It's also entirely possible that looking nice makes her better at the job, which is fine. Ten don't hire interviewers and presenters just because that's the done thing or because they're committed to rewarding journalistic excellence; they do it as a business decision because they believe they'll retain more viewers by having that role. If people would rather look at Mel McLaughlin than Ian Smith and that sort of thing contributes to viewer retention, then that makes her better at that particular job. It's only ***ist if they're knowingly operating on some sort of quota contrary to their business interests, which I sincerely doubt.

 

[hendrix]

Neroli's plea was something to this effect as well:

"Can't you just, for once, trust us that it is actually offensive and that it's not ok?"

i.e. every time this **** happens they have to justify to everyone else why they're upset and hurt.

Quite heartbreaking tbh.

 

[Gnske]

1. She can talk freely on camera in front of millions of people and not freeze up. This is a very difficult thing to do.
2. She likes cricket and knows about cricket
3. She represents a demographic that 10 is trying to appeal to.

I know what you're trying to imply and sure, it does help that someone's nice to look at. But that shouldn't prevent them from doing their job.

She's purely there for the same reason as Yvonne Sampson, the token woman. If they wanted someone who knows about cricket they would have got maybe Saltau, Farrell or someone like that. Her entire role on the program is to introduce topics for the actual former/current cricketers to talk about, no actual input of her own, just sort of sits there and nods.

Not saying she isn't incapable of more, but Ten's use of her is far more detrimental than anything Gayle could ever do.

Going a bit OT in here tbh.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

bad thing happens and people make a fuss out of it

"OMG stop making such a drama out of something little"

bad thing happens and no-one says anything

"Well no-one complained so clearly it's okay, someone should've said if they didn't like it"

you just can't win

 

[Shady Slim]

She's purely there for the same reason as Yvonne Sampson, the token woman. If they wanted someone who knows about cricket they would have got maybe Saltau, Farrell or someone like that. Her entire role on the program is to introduce topics for the actual former/current cricketers to talk about, no actual input of her own, just sort of sits there and nods.

Not saying she isn't incapable of more, but Ten's use of her is far more detrimental than anything Gayle could ever do.

Going a bit OT in here tbh.

huge validity to this tbh

last year when they were naming their world cup teams if i remember correctly everyone pitched their team of fifteen barring her, and tbh i'm sure if asked she would

 

[TNT]

In your heart of hearts, what factors do you think contributed to her getting the job?

Disclaimer: I do not think the factors behind her getting the job mitigate inappropriate behaviour towards her to any extent.

Probably because she excelled in journalism at university and is highly intelligent, she has a good understanding of sport and does a tremendous job commentating womens cricket.

Be interested in what factors you think contributed to her getting the job.

 

[thierry henry]

in my heart of hearts, i don't know. is she in that role for eye-candy related reasons? yeah, maybe. but maybe she's just good at her job.

quite frankly i don't care either, for the reason you outline in your disclaimer.

Why do you care about the misogyny in Chris Gayle treating her as eye-candy in a brief interview but not about the much broader misogyny inherent in her having the job in the first place because (even if only partly because) she is eye candy?

It just seems like a very selective application of your principles to me. The inappropriate way she was treated in that instance, focussing on something that should be irrelevant, reflects the inappropriate aspects of her employment, reflecting as it does irrelevant considerations.

 

[Shady Slim]

i think that what gayle did was dickish but it would have been enough for channel ten and gayle to apologise (which happened) and then they move on, the longer this drags out and the deeper this debate goes the more awkward it gets for channel ten, mclaughlin, and gayle.

 

[Dan]

Which is exactly the spot McLaughlin finds herself in. Call Gayle out on his **** publicly, and she's a whiny bitch who can't take a compliment. Say nothing, and she's clearly not offended. So either way, Gayle does nothing wrong.