Stephen Fry has apologised for his remarks about the “beetroot-coloured gentlemen” of Marylebone Cricket Club, telling members: “I really should learn to keep my big mouth shut.”
In an appearance at the Hay Festival earlier this month, Fry – ex-president of the club – spoke disparagingly of the MMC’s public image.
He told the audience: “MCC has a public face that is deeply disturbing. Beetroot-coloured gentlemen in yellow-and-orange blazers sitting in front of the Long Room and looking as if they’d come out of an Edwardian cartoon.”
While Fry said that such an image was not a “fair face to see of the MCC”, he also added that the aura of “privilege and classism” “just stinks”. He was speaking on a panel with Azeem Rafiq, the former Yorkshire cricketer, about racism and a lack of diversity in cricket.
A number of members have written to the club to say that Fry should be suspended, it has been claimed.
‘I cannot apologise enough for my stupidity’
In an email posted on the members’ independent forum, seen by The Times, Fry said: “Oh dear, I’ve made a complete clot of myself yet again.
“I’m so sorry that what I said at Hay has come across as criticism of the club, its members, its ethos – I was attempting the exact opposite.
“I went off into a wildly overdone – absolutely – prose picture of the image that some have of the club. Edwardian, public school, etc etc. Very much, I admitted ruefully, my image too.
“Yes, I should have made it clearer that the reality is different, but I thought I had and that it was obvious.”
He added: “I didn’t really get time to make the case for the club as clearly as I should have. What came across is the opposite of what I wanted to say. I cannot apologise enough for my stupidity. I should have known better.
“But please be assured that I love, honour, value, respect and admire this wonderful club of ours. I am proud to think of all it does for cricket and I curse myself for the recent flurry of attention I have caused.
“All I seemed to do was to pick at a scab that was already healing. I am truly so very sorry.”