The Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday publicly admonished Fox Sports for carrying a story based on ‘unsubstantiated personal allegations’ against the Pakistani skipper Babar Azam. The prompt intervention by the PCB forced Fox Sports to immediately remove the article from its website.
In its tweet, Fox Sports wrote, “Babr Azam is being accused of allegedly sexting teammate’s girlfriend after videos of voice recordings went viral. online.”
Taking a dim view of the nasty headline by Fox Australia, the PCB tweeted angrily, “As our media partner, you might have considered ignoring such unsubstantiated personal allegations which Babar Azam has not deemed worthy of a response.”
Netizens too slammed Fox Sports for not exercising due diligence before carrying a defamatory story against Azam. This was even after it became abundantly clear that the claims were fake and made by a parody Twitter account holder, who had managed to get his account verified by paying $8 monthly subscription.
Fox deleted its tweet and took down the story from its website. The message on the website says, “We’re sorry, the page you requested has been permanently removed.”
Earlier, several Indian media outlets including Gautam Adani’s NDTV and Mukesh Ambani’s Network 18 had faced public ridicule for carrying stories based on a fake tweet by a parody Twitter user. The user, whose Twitter sent Indian media outlets and Fox Sports on a wild goose chase, himself had taken to Twitter to mock the so-called journalism of these platforms.
Babar Azam chose not to respond to the unprecedented media coverage even though support him poured in on the microblogging site Twitter. Hashtags #StayStrongBabarAzam and #StayStrongBabar trended prominently on Twitter for hours.
Here are some of those tweets posted in support of the Pakistani captain.
Now this is what we call CLASS🔥💯👑#BabarAzam#istandwithBabar#StayStrongBabarAzam
If the world is against him,i’m against the world💯 pic.twitter.com/ckGFKekIP8— Dr.Nimra (@NimraTa13578807) January 17, 2023
Babar Azam your fans don’t need Guns they have the ability to destroy your enemies easily just like fox cricket😂😂 @babarazam258#StayStrongBabarAzam pic.twitter.com/T7X1kg0btS
— Sumaiya Ijaz (@ChiliMili345) January 17, 2023
Eventually they will hate you 💔#StayStrongBabarAzam #StandWithBabarAzam pic.twitter.com/kRkVB7gkyS
— Mujahid (@mujahid_bhattii) January 17, 2023
Can You Guys imagine the Power of Babar Fans ???
Look at this . Fox cricket delete this tweet.
No one in this world can put a finger on Our King Babar 👑 Chadrmod ہاتھ کاٹ دیں گے اُسکا#WeStandWithBabarAzam #StayStrongBabarAzam pic.twitter.com/1avcQyRG08— Hamza Nasir (@HamzaNa95499095) January 17, 2023
Spread your wings and watch time fly.The whole world is watching you❤️#BabarAzam #Pakistan #StayStrongBabarAzam #WeStandWithBabarAzam #ICCRankings #pcbb #FoxNews #tuesdayvibe pic.twitter.com/H4Er5z79rA
— fanclub babarazam (@aezy_butt) January 17, 2023
