The ongoing racism scandal in England took another turn on Thursday, November 18, when a disturbing and offensive image of Alex Hales in blackface surfaced, with the England batter admitting it was a "tribute" to late US rapper Tupac Shakur.
The pictures showing Hales in blackface at a fancy dress party back in 2009 were published by Britain’s The Sun newspaper hours after former English bowler Azeem Rafiq’s distressing revelations of the career-ending racism he suffered in Yorkshire at a parliamentary hearing into the racism scandal.
However, in a statement on Thursday regarding the photographs, Hales defended the viral photo and admitted painting his face black for a New Year’s Eve party in 2009, when he would have been 20 years old and said it was a tribute to his musical hero, rapper Tupac Shakur.
Hales told The Sun: “In 2009, I attended a New Year’s Eve musical tribute fancy dress party. I dressed in tribute to my musical hero, Tupac Shakur, someone who I’ve admired from childhood and, at the time, did not realize the offensive nature of this.”
Read Also: Former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq apologises for anti-Semitic messages as a teenager
He further added, “I echo my statement from earlier in the week and stress how much I deplore racism and discrimination in all its forms.”
Following the latest event, the 32-year-old Hales will now face a fresh investigation into the offensive image by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Meanwhile, Julian Knight MP, the Chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) committee, told The Sun: “This picture - coming on the back of a week when cricket was shamed like never before - is incredibly disturbing and offensive. The very soul of English cricket is now at stake.”
Earlier, Rafiq accused Hales of naming his dog 'Kevin' because it was black, saying the name was used by Gary Balance to describe "people of color" and Alex gave his dog the name after growing close to Ballance during their time together in England team.
However, Hales denied there was "any racial connotation" in the name of his dog, Kevin, after allegations by Rafiq in his damning testimony about the racial abuse and bullying at Yorkshire.
(With Reuters Inputs)
