Australian cricket legend is called out for ‘all lives matter’ post by a furious indigenous great of the game
- Rodney Hogg sparked outrage on Thursday by tweeting ‘all lives matter’
- Protests have erupted globally following a black man’s death in police custody
- George Floyd’s death has sparked an international Black Lives Matter movement
- Jason Gillespie wrote a scathing response saying Hogg had ‘missed the point’
Australian cricket legend Rodney Hogg has been called out by indigenous player Jason Gillespie for posting ‘all lives matter’ online.
Black Lives Matter protests have erupted worldwide following the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, US, last month.
The global movement against violence and systemic racism has seen thousands of supporters protesting in several Australian capital cities over the past two weeks.
Hogg appeared to be unimpressed by the protests and tweeted ‘believe it or not but all lives matter’, on Thursday.
Rodney Hogg (pictured) sparked outrage on Twitter this week, posting ‘All Lives Matter’
But his post was met with widespread backlash and was slammed by Gillespie, 45, the first male indigenous cricketer to represent the Australian Test team.
‘You are missing the point Rodney,’ Gillespie bluntly replied, sharing a quote from American author Doug Williford.
‘If my wife comes to me in obvious pain and asks, ”Do you love me?” an answer of “I love everyone” would be truthful, but also hurtful and cruel in the moment,’ the Channel 7 commentator wrote.
‘If a co-worker comes to me upset and says, “My father died,” a response of “Everyone’s parents die” would be truthful but hurtful and cruel in the moment.
‘So when a friend speaks up in a time of obvious pain and hurt and says, “black lives matter,” a response of “all lives matter” is truthful. But it’s hurtful and cruel in the moment.’
Many others flocked to the comments section slamming the 38 Test Veteran over his insensitive statement.
‘Yep. As always you miss the point entirely,’ one man wrote.
‘We all know that All Lives Matter…but clearly they don’t because we wouldn’t be talking about the injustices to, and murder of, black lives, and at the moment they clearly don’t matter quite so much,’ another added.
Jason Gillespie (pictured), the first male Indigenous cricketer to represent the Australian Test team, responded to Hogg, saying he was ‘missing the point’
Another added:’We wouldn’t need to say black lives matter if all lives mattered.’
A third comment read: ‘Another old white bloke missing the point again…’
Gillespie played 71 Tests for Australia, claiming 259 wickets after his debut at the Singer world series in 1996 until his retirement in 2008.
Hogg has a history of controversial Twitter posts, having written an offensive Australia Day tweeted directed at Muslims in 2012.
‘Just put out my Aussie flag for Australia Day but I wasn’t sure if it would offend Muslims … so I wrote ‘Allah is a s***’ on it to make sure,’ the ex-fast bowler wrote.
Hogg apologised two hours later, saying: ‘Bad attempted Australian humour, sorry if I offended you.’
Hogg played 38 Tests and 71 One Day Internationals for Australia between from 1978 to 1985, claiming 208 wickets.