Fox Sports busted running racist slur about Pakistani cricketers

Fox Sports is busted running a racist slur about Pakistanis on coverage of the country’s match against Albo’s Prime Minister’s XI side

  • Term was seen on Fox Sports’ graphic early in match 
  • Was quickly changed once error was discovered 
  • Aussie star Usman Khawaja has copped slur previously 

Fox Sports has been caught out airing a racial slur against Pakistanis as the nation’s cricket side played the Australian Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Wednesday.

Instead of abbreviating the country’s name to ‘PAK’ as per usual, the pay TV broadcaster went with ‘PAK*’ to describe the tourists early on the first day of play.

It is not suggested that the word was aired on purpose by Fox staff, who quickly changed it to ‘PAK’ when the error was picked up. 

‘Pak*’ has been used as a racist slur in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, when immigration from the country was at its peak.

Fox Sports were quick to change the graphic in the bottom-left of viewers’ screens to ‘PAK’ once the offensive error (pictured) was discovered 

The slur was broadcast during Pakistan’s match against the Prime Minister’s XI team on Wednesday (pictured, Anthony Albanese with team members before play began)

Despite being an abbreviation of ‘Pakistan’, the word is commonly associated with the racial abuse of Pakistanis. 

In 2007 Prince Harry was investigated by the UK’s Ministry of Defence and ordered to take anti-racist training for calling an army colleague ‘our little Pak* friend’.

And in 2018 Pakistan-born Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja revealed he was hit with the slur by the parents of children he played against as a youngster.

Fans of the sport voiced their shock online when Fox’s use of the word was revealed.

‘Let’s hope we don’t play Nigeria soon,’ one wrote.

‘Well we can’t be doing that… How do you have a known racist term on your graphic,’ another asked.

Despite being an abbreviation of Pakistani, the slur has been commonly associated with racism since the 1960s

Pakistan-born Aussie cricket star Usman Khawaja (pictured) is one of many stars of the sport to have been hit with the slur

The racist term isn’t exclusively aimed at Pakistanis, either, with Indians, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans also on the receiving end.

In 2010 ex-India opening batter Aakash Chopra revealed he was ‘constantly’ being called the term by opponents while playing league matches in England.

‘Now many believe Pak* is a short form of Pakistan but that is not true,’ he said. 

‘If you are brown-skinned, if you’re anywhere from Asian subcontinent, this term is used to racially abuse. You’re called Pak*, and nobody likes it.’

And in March this year English cricketer Tim Bresnan was accused of using the slur by calling his teammate Azeem Rafiq’s sister a ‘fit Pak*’.

Bresnan denied the allegation, which was raised at a hearing of the English Cricket Board’s cricket discipline commission as it investigated claims he and other cricketers including Test star Matthew Hoggard had brought the game into disrepute by using racist language.

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