Last Updated:
Robin Uthappa slams Michael Clarke for releasing the Slapgate video, saying only white-skinned people can get away with being so insensitive.
Michael Clarke (R) has been slammed for revealing the slapgate video.
(PC: X, AFP)
Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has chastised Michael Clarke for releasing the infamous Slapgate video on his YouTube channel without Harbhajan Singh’s or Sreesanth’s permission. Uthappa said he couldn’t believe that Clarke lacked the sensitivity and empathy needed in the situation, adding that it was only white-skinned people who could ‘get away with’ treating people ‘like crap’ just for some more engagement.
The video is from an incident in 2008 when Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth after an IPL game. It was a huge scandal at the time as well, but the video never made it out. Clarke got it from Lalit Modi, the fugitive Indian businessman and the then IPL chairman, during an interview and made it public. It has since gone viral, drawing angry reactions from both Harbhajan and Sreesanth’s families, who said they had moved on.
“That whole Slaggate thing that happened in the IPL. What the f*** man? How does someone get away with stuff like that?” Uthappa said on the Kim-Appa show with Jarrod Kimber. “Now, imagine we put up a clip of something that an Australian did that was offensive, that was kept under wraps for the respect of that whole situation, to save the respect of that situation, which is an impulsive, bad decision that a human being made… Now that you have gone and interviewed someone, and you have got access to the file, do you think you have the right to publish it, put that into the world, and make those two people go through that whole emotion, that raw emotion, 20 years later?”
Uthappa also believes that people need to talk about this more, from the implications it can have on both Harbhajan and Sreesanth, and how Clarke should get his deserved blame for that.
“Where is your sense of sensitivity and empathy for other people?” Uthappa asked. “We all make mistakes, but are we going to keep putting it out there to make people go through the embarrassment of the wrong choices the person has made? For me, it’s guys who aren’t brown skinned who get away with it a lot more. Today, we are speaking about Sunny G having an opinion on what other countries speak about Indian cricket. But what about this? Imagine the human implications of this… You can’t treat people like crap just because it’ll get you more views,” he added.
Read More
