Marylebone Cricket Club stinks of privilege, says QI host Stephen Fry… who is the club’s former president
Fresh from his triumph in getting women into the Garrick Club, Stephen Fry turns his anger elsewhere.
The actor, 66, has attacked his former cricket club, saying it ‘stinks of privilege’.
The QI host said Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which he chaired from 2022 to 2023, reeked of “classism” and was filled with “beet-coloured” men.
He told the Hay Festival: ‘It has a public face that is very disturbing – a sort of beet-coloured gentleman in yellow and orange blazers sitting in this space in front of the Long Hall looking as if they have come out of prison. an Edwardian cartoon.’
He added that the annual Eton versus Harrow public school match, traditionally hosted by the 237-year-old club at Lord’s Cricket Ground in north-west London, was a prime example of this privilege.
Stephen Fry (pictured) has attacked his former cricket club, saying it ‘stinks of privilege’
The QI host said Marylebone Cricket Club (pictured), of which he was president from 2022 to 2023, reeked of ‘classism’ and was filled with ‘beet-coloured’ men
Fry made the comments on a panel on diversity in sport alongside cricketer Azeem Rafiq, who accused Yorkshire County Cricket Club of racism in 2020.
He said he felt “ashamed” to be president of the MCC at the time, adding: “I am the perfect example of the problem [as it] They’ve been largely beefy, white Englishmen for hundreds of years… running the place.”
Earlier this month, Fry threatened to leave the all-male Garrick Club unless members voted to admit women.
The motion was passed, meaning women – which could include classicist Dame Mary Beard and broadcaster Cathy Newman – can become members of the 193-year-old institution.