BBC presenter John Inverdale has been accused of ‘casual racism’ after comparing stroppy tennis player Nick Kyrgios to a character from The Jungle Book.
Inverdale poetically observed that the gangly Australian “lumbers off [court] like a character from The Jungle Book”.
The Twittersphere went into meltdown, angry that since Kyrgios has a Greek father and a Malaysian mother Inverdale is a horrible racist. They remembered the occasion when Inverdale said a female player was “never going to be a looker” and was joyously replaced by joyless Claire Balding.
Never mind that Inverdale is a good presenter and knows his stuff; ability is never enough if you grace the Beeb’s airwaves.
(Image: Howard Lake)