Hobart, Jan 7 (IANS) The West Indies batsman Chris Gayle on Thursday said he will sue Fairfax Media for defamation, after it published reports which claimed that he exposed himself to a woman in Sydney while training for the World Cup last year.
The 36-year-old has released a statement which says that he along with his lawyer would “immediately commence defamation proceedings against Fairfax Media”.
“Cricketer Chris Gayle has strongly denied allegations first published by Fairfax Media that he indecently exposed himself to a woman during last year’s World Cup in Sydney,” the statement said as reported by The Guardian.
“Despite such denial, Fairfax Media continues to publish the false and defamatory allegations which have received widespread republication in media throughout the world.”
An Australian woman made accusations on Wednesday that Gayle exposed his genitals to her in the team dressing room and asked, “Are you looking for this?”. As reported by Fairfax, the woman had gone inside the dressing room in search of a sandwich.
The accusation came after Gayle asked female sports journalist Mel McLaughlin out in a live pitch side interview during Monday’s Big Bash League game between Melbourne Renegades and Hobart Hurricanes.
The incident drew flak from social media and Gayle was fined 10,000 Australian dollars (Rs.4,68,111) for making the dating proposal live.
