The move comes after O’Keeffe made disparaging remarks against Indian players during the Boxing Day Test of the ongoing series.
New Delhi: Sony Pictures Networks – Sports, the Indian broadcaster of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, has decided to black out feed featuring controversial Australian commentator Kerry O’Keeffe in the fourth Test currently underway in Sydney, said a report.
Sony’s move follows a series of racist comments made by O’Keeffe in the third Test of the ongoing series.
The Indian broadcaster, that uses half an hour of Australian commentary as a supplement to its own studio commentary from Mumbai, has reportedly decided to not use Fox Cricket feed while O’Keeffe is on air.
According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, while Sony will still use commentary from Fox, they will ensure that the parts featuring O’Keeffe will not reach Indian audiences.
“We cannot have someone making snide remarks on Indian players,” a source with first-hand information about the development told the newspaper, adding that the network had not been pressured by the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to take this step.
“We’re sensitive to that matter, we don’t need to be told,” the source said.
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The controversy
O’Keeffe was slammed on social media for inappropriate comments during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne last week when he said that Indian opener Mayank Agarwal’s triple century against Railways in the Ranji Trophy last year had come against “canteen staff”.
It might just be me, but it's pretty uncool to ridicule the FC comp of another country while using dubious stereotypes for a cheap laugh…
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) December 26, 2018
While the Indian cricket team’s head coach Ravi Shastri responded to the remark with a joke saying that “when you do open your canteen, he (Agarwal) wants to come and smell the coffee”, India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun admitted that the comment had “hurt” the team.
This wasn’t the only instance of O’Keeffe’s inappropriate comments.
In the same match, the commentator was unable to pronounce the names of Indian cricketers Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja on air, and followed up by making a joke.
“Why would you name your kid Cheteshwar, Jadeja?” he asked.
The worst piece of racist commentary I've ever seen. Kerry O'Keefe saying "Why would you call your kid Cheteshwar Jadeja?" accompanied with cackled laughter. Shameful bunch. pic.twitter.com/UPUiCpUgJe
— Ripper (@Ace_Of_Pace) December 29, 2018
Following the backlash, O’Keeffe apologised through an open letter published on Fox Sports.
In the letter, O’Keeffe wrote that he was “devastated by the reaction” he had received for his on-air comments, and stated that he was “being entirely tongue in cheek”.
“I respect India, its cricketers and its supporters for their deep love of the game and it hurts me to think a couple of misplaced attempts at humour might compromise our mutual joy in all things cricket,” he wrote.
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