The Racism Row Hits IPL !

IPL has been surrounded by its’ fair share of controversies but the latest one of racism is turning out to be one ugly mess IPL could have surely done without. Two African- Americans cheerleaders claimed that they were asked to sit out and not take the stage because they weren’t white. They claimed that officials from Wizcraft International Entertainment, the event management company hired by the Kings XI Punjab team franchisee owned by Bollywood actresss Preity Zinta, had asked them to leave the stadium on the eve of the Chennai Super Kings – Kings XI Punjab encounter.

Preity Zinta

Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson the two black cheerleaders went on record saying that when asked why, they were being asked to leave, Wizcraft International Entertainment employees told them bluntly it was because of the colour of their skin.

Jorge Aldana, Director of UK-based Fierce Performance Production who arranged for the team of 12 cheerleaders to root for Kings XI Punjab, confirmed the incident and said the two girls were allowed to perform only after he stepped in and took up the matter with Wizcraft officials. Sabbas Joseph, director of Wizcraft, on the other hand denied any such incident took place.

Other cheerleading teams such as the Washington Redskins, brought in by Bangalore team have African- Americans on the squad. But this is the first time colour became an issue in this competition.

Manjeet Sandhu, district secretary of the Chandigarh chapter of All- India Democratic Women’s Association commented, "Stopping anyone from performing on the basis of colour of skin is not only illegal but unconstitutional. If such a thing has happened, especially against women coming from abroad, it should be condemned and action taken against those at fault."

When bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty faced racial abuse on the sets of reality TV show Big Brother in the UK, angry reactions worldwide, including censure by the media regulator, forced the broadcaster to issue a series of apologies. With the cheerleaders’ incident the world will now be watching how India handles this case of blatant racial abuse. Most would consider that Cricketer Harbhajan Singh who was recently accused by the Australians of racial abuse was let off more or less lightly. It would be very interesting to see what turn this case of racial abuse based on skin colour takes.

BY MAHESH THEVAR