Michael Vaughan has been stood down from BBC 5Live’s ‘Tuffers and Vaughan Show’ after being implicated in the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal and accused of telling Yorkshire players with Asian heritage ‘there are too many of you lot’
- Vaughan has been stood down from BBC ‘s 5 live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show
- The Ashes-winning captain, Vaughan, was named in the Azeem Rafiq report
- Vaughan has firmly denied the claims that he made a racially insensitive remark
- Nevertheless, the BBC made the decision to remove Vaughan from the show
- The broadcaster said they ‘take any allegations of racism extremely seriously’
Michael Vaughan has been stood down from BBC’s 5 live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show after being accused of making a racially insensitive remark to Azeem Rafiq.
Vaughan admitted on Thursday that he had been named in the Rafiq report — but firmly denied the claims that he told a group of Yorkshire players with Asian heritage that there were ‘too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’.
Nevertheless, the BBC have made the decision to remove the Ashes-winning captain from Tuffers and Vaughan Show as they ‘take any allegations of racism extremely seriously.’
Michael Vaughan stood down from BBC’s 5 live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show on Monday
The BBC released as statement saying: ‘The BBC takes any allegations of racism extremely seriously.
‘The allegation against Michael Vaughan pre-dates his time working for the BBC, we were not part of the investigation conducted by Yorkshire County Cricket Club and we have had no access to the subsequent report.
‘However, we were made aware of a single allegation which Michael strongly denies and we have been monitoring the situation closely.
‘We have made the editorial decision that Michael won’t appear as a presenter on 5 live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show on Monday.
‘The show focuses on topical matters and given his personal involvement, we need to ensure we maintain the impartiality of the programme. We train in discussion with Micheal and his team.’
Vaughan has denied the claims he made a racist remark ahead of a County Championship game in 2009. Writing in his Telegraph column he said: ‘In December 2020 I was asked to speak to the independent panel formed by Yorkshire to investigate Rafiq’s claims.
Vaughan admitted he had been named in the Azeem Rafiq report — but denied claims that he told a group of Yorkshire players with Asian heritage that there were ‘too many of you lot’
‘The night before I was due to give evidence, out of the blue, I was hit with the news that Rafiq was alleging that in 2009 before a Yorkshire match against Nottinghamshire, I had said to Rafiq and two other Asian players as we walked on to the field together that there are “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.
‘This hit me very hard. It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator.
‘I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words.’
More to follow…