Chris Hughes branded ‘shameful’ for making Barbie comment at female cricketer

Former Love Island star Chris Hughes has been branded “shameful” after calling a female cricketer a “Barbie” in an interview.

The 30-year-old influencer has been working for the BBC during its coverage of The Hundred. He interviewed Southern Brave player Maitlan Brown during her side's innings against Trent Rockets on the opening day of this year's tournament, talking positively about the women’s game.

Australian star Brown explained how she and her team-mates watched the new Barbie film as a team-bonding trip. But former reality TV star Hughes became side-tracked as he made a remark about Brown’s facial features, sparking outrage online.

“We watched Barbie the other night altogether and it was really good team bonding and the group is gelling really well together,” Brown said. “That is the key to success I think in tournaments like this, how well and how quickly you can gel as a group.”

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Hughes responded by saying: "You're a little Barbie yourself innit, with your blue eyes.” Brown attempted to laugh off the bizarre comment, before Hughes added: “She’s blushing now.”

And viewers were left in shock as they took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to vent their anger and demand answers from the BBC.

One user wrote: “This is utterly shameful. Apparently this interviewer used to be on Love Island – BBC, you find ANYONE better than this? This is disgraceful.”

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Another tweeted: “Yep saw this live and couldn’t pick my jaw off the floor for 10 minutes. Laughable stuff," while a third fumed: “His comments throughout the broadcast were cringe worthy. This is just grim. Really unsure how he gets the gig tbh.”

Others chimed in by adding: “Completely unacceptable,” and “That's not on.”

The BBC have since responded to the backlash, with a spokesperson saying: “We have spoken to Chris and explained that his comment was not appropriate.”

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