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Chris Hughes’ Barbie remark to female cricketer found to be inappropriate by BBC
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Chris Hughes has been told by the BBC that his recent behaviour was 'inappropriate'.
The former Love Island contestant has made a name for himself in the world of sports presenting in recent times.
As well as having worked on racing coverage for ITV, the 30-year-old has also been part of the BBC's team for the cricket series The Hundred.
The short form game has attracted families and young children to cricket, with new teams set up all over the country.
As the name suggests, each team has one hundred balls to face per match, with each side playing one another in the mini tournament.
Unlike other formats of the sport, women's and men's matches are played at the same venue on the same day.
And during coverage of Southern Braves' match against Trent Rocket on Tuesday (1 August), Hughes made a bit of a faux pas.
At the time, Hughes was conducting a pitch-side interview with Braves player Maitlan Brown.
The Australian all-rounder told the presenter that she and some of her teammates had just been to see the new Barbie movie.
“We watched Barbie the other night all together and it was really good team bonding and the group is gelling really well together," she said.
Replying to the player's comments, Hughes said: “You’re a little Barbie yourself with your blue eyes.”
Brown then laughed, with Hughes adding: “She’s blushing now”.
However, the former reality star's comments were no laughing matter for the broadcaster.
Following the incident, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “We have spoken to Chris and explained that his comment was not appropriate.”
Many watching at home were also not happy with Hughes' remarks.
Taking to social media, some claimed that he needed to apologise for what he'd said.
"Chris Hughes was a Love Island contestant. It's almost as if you should hire a ... journo to do ... a journo’s job. But I’m old-fashioned like that," said one viewer.
Another commented: "So much great young journalistic cricket talent in the UK, and you hire that clown @chrishughes_22, because demographics, innit."
Not everyone was so outraged by Hughes' comments, though.
Some argued, however, that he was just having a laugh and there was clearly no harm intended.
Defending the presenter, one person hit back at others taking to Twitter to call Hughes out, saying: "Imagine finding something offensive on someone else’s behalf and then flying on to Twitter to let the person who said it know YOU didn’t like it. What a loser."
LADbible has contacted a representative for Chris Hughes for comment.
