Fox Sports Uses Racist Slur About Pakistan On Day One Of Warm-up Game

Fox Sports have landed in hot water for airing a racial slur against Pakistan during the ongoing four-day warm-up game between the Asian country and the Australian Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra. The incident took place on Wednesday (December 6) which was the first day of the game.

Pakistan captain Shan Masood won the toss and opted to bat first. As the game began, the broadcasters left the viewers stunned by abbreviating the country’s name to ‘PAK*’ instead of the usual PAK abbreviation. While it is still not clear whether it was a mistake or intentional, Fox Sports did not take long to change it to ‘PAK’.

The choice to run with “PAKI” on the Fox ticker over the traditional “PAK” is…quite a choice. pic.twitter.com/FZz4ulYtV0

— Daany Saeed (@daanysaeed) December 5, 2023

PAK* has been used as a racist slur in several countries including England as the locals used the derogatory term to refer to the immigrants. While the term is an abbreviation of ‘Pakistan’, it is commonly used as a racial abuse for people of Pakistani origins.

In 2018, Australia’s Pakistan-born opener Usman Khawaja revealed that he faced racial slurs from the parents of children he played against as a youngster. In 2010, former India batsman Aakash Chopra said that he was constantly targeted with the same racial slur while playing league matches in England.

“Now many believe Pak* is a short form of Pakistan but that is not true,” he had 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.”

Earlier this year, former England allrounder Tim Bresnan was accused of using the slur by calling his teammate Azeem Rafiq’s sister a ‘fit Pak*’.

Pakistan’s performance so far:

Talking about the game, Pakistan were on 303 for 5 after 83 overs at the time of writing this report. Captain Shan Masood has led the team from the very front and was batting on 144. The likes of Abdullah Shafique (38), Babar Azam (40) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (41) got the starts but failed to capitalise.