Chris Gayle's Instagram account is littered with shirtless photos of himself. Photo / Chris Gayle Instagram
Chris Gayle's Instagram account is littered with shirtless photos of himself. Photo / Chris Gayle Instagram
He's done it before - that's the charge being levelled at Chris Gayle as he risks becoming seen as a serial offender in interviews with Australian female reporters.
Gayle has come under fire for his so-called inappropriate comments when he propositioned Channel Ten reporter Mel McLaughlin on live TV during a Big Bash match in Hobart on Monday.
Australian media outlets are reporting other females have experienced similar behaviour from Gayle with one labelling him a "creep".
Accusations have emerged that Gayle exposed his genitals to a female staff member who was with the West Indies team during last year's Cricket World Cup.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald the woman went inside the dressing room to get a sandwich when she thought all the players were on the field, only to find Gayle and another player standing there in towels.
Gayle reportedly pulled the towel down, exposing himself, and said: "Are you looking for this?"
This comes as Fox News 500 reporter Neroli Meadows detailed her own cringe-worthy experiences at the hands of Gayle.
Gayle was made to apologise at a hastily arranged press conference upon Melbourne Renegades' arrival home from their trip to Hobart, but just hours later he took to social media to make light of his A$10,000 ($10,670) fine.
The West Indian posted a picture of himself and teammate Dwayne Bravo in which he was wearing a T-shirt with a modified Playboy bunny design and the logo $EXSELL$.
It followed a post saying: "Pockets are empty so djbravo47 paying the dinner bill tonight ... Let's roll DJ."
Meadows said what really disappoints her is that people still laugh at Gayle's behaviour.
"The fact that people still laugh and the fact that when somebody like myself or Mel says it's not okay, people say 'ah it's free speech, it's a bit of fun, don't take it so seriously'.
She said Gayle did the same thing he did to McLaughlin to her five or six years ago when he first joined the Thunder.
"It was an entirely filled press conference because it was big news in Sydney, and the entire squad was in the back of that press conference. He went at me once in the press conference and I thought, 'Okay you're having a laugh, you're Chris Gayle, everyone laughs'.
"He did it again. It's cringey, you can almost hear the cringing. It's not okay.
"And then to come up afterwards, stand over me and say, 'so when are we going for that drink'. He's a big guy, it makes you feel intimidated."
Gayle has a mirrored ceiling in his bedroom and described his bed as the "Hanky Panky" bed. Photo / Chris Gayle Instagram
Cricinfo reporter Melinda Farrell concurred that she had received the same treatment from Gayle at press conferences, and both women spoke of the impact Monday night's interview had on them personally.
"I didn't sleep last night, I got a couple of hours sleep because it really got me riled up," Meadows said.
"Perhaps for one second, just trust us, rather than saying 'what a bunch of whingeing women', just trust us that maybe we're telling the truth and maybe it is upsetting and it does happen all the time and it's not okay.
"It happens - situations like that - 10 times a day when you're a female in the sports industry and that's just a fact.
"Whether it's the fact the women's toilets aren't open and the men's toilets are, whether it's somebody saying something inappropriate to you as you walk down the hallway. We do not need that to happen to us in our workplace."
Also taking part in the discussion was recently retired test opener Chris Rogers, who played alongside Gayle for Sydney Thunder.
Rogers clearly had to choose his words carefully as he is set to once again be a teammate of Gayle at English county Somerset this year, but Rogers was still swift in his condemnation of Gayle's behaviour - both now and when he was at the Thunder.
"From my time at the Thunder I was very disappointed with his attitude and his behaviour and I've never been a fan since," Rogers said.
"This is a pattern of behaviour. If you know the guy, you see it over and over. It's not just him, there's a lot of this stuff in the sporting industry. To defend it I think is not right at all.
"From what I saw at the Thunder, if I had to be in the Thunder the next year, it would have been my advice that he wouldn't have been anywhere near the set-up.
"The reason he hasn't played in the BBL for quite a while is because that was what was said. 'Actually, stay away from Chris Gayle because he brings more trouble than he's worth'."
- news.com.au with additional reporting from NZ Herald
