West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle has apologised to reporter Mel McLaughlin for asking her out for a drink and urging her to 'not blush, baby' during a live interview yesterday.
Gayle was fined $10,000 by his Big Bash League team Melbourne Renegades.
McLaughlin looked extremely uncomfortable during the interview. The reporters who confronted Gayle yesterday told him that McLaughlin was said to be 'pretty upset' after the interview.
In a sometimes tetchy exchange with a phalanx of reporters, Gayle offered these more sober comments.
A lot of things have flared up from a simple comment, a joke, a simple joke on air and it seemed to went out of proportion.
There wasn't anything meant to be disrespectful or offensive to Mel and if she felt that way I'm really sorry for that.
There wasn't any harm meant in that particular way to any particular person like that.
It was a simple joke. Entertainment, things get out of proportion but these things do happen.
There wasn't any harm done, I'll leave it at that. I'm sorry for that, we'll have to move on.
The head of the Big Bash League Anthony Everard described Gayle's interview as unacceptable.
Statement re Chris Gayle on air comments tonight. pic.twitter.com/Zq6xn8fquW
— Anthony Everard (@BigBashLeagueHQ) January 4, 2016
Gayle's performance was criticised almost immediately by McLaughlin's colleagues in the commentary booth and he was attacked on social media, though he did have one defender in the shape of Piers Morgan, who expressed his outrage that everyone was getting so outraged by Gayle's clowning and referenced a previous Maria Sharapova press conference in which she flirted with a male journalist.
I'm absolutely outraged that everyone's so absolutely outraged by @henrygayle being a bit cheeky to a female TV reporter. #BBL05
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 4, 2016
