The Indian cricket commentator, Harsha Bhogle has found himself at the receiving end of criticism and trolling after he labeled COVID-19 disease as a “Chinese virus” while sharing the news about seven England ODI players testing positive ahead of the Pakistan series.
Well, recently, 7 members of the England cricket team, four being backroom staff and three being England players tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of their limited over series against Pakistan.
Disappointed by the news, Harsha took to his Twitter and expressed how it seems like the dangerous COVID-19 is going nowhere. He further labeled Coronavirus as ‘Chinese Virus’ in his Tweet. He wrote:
“It doesn’t look like it is going anywhere. The Chinese virus has now infiltrated the England cricket team. The bubbles will get more stringent. I guess there is no other option”
Here, check out the Tweet:
It doesn’t look like it is going anywhere. The Chinese virus has now infiltrated the England cricket team. The bubbles will get more stringent. I guess there is no other option
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 6, 2021
The tweet went viral in no time and was welcomed with mixed reactions from the twitterati on this. While there were many who slammed Harsha for labeling the COVID-19 as a ‘Chinese Virus’, a name first popularized by former US President Donald Trump, and called him racists and names. On the other hand, there were many who appreciated Bhogle for calling COVID-19 a Chinese Virus.
Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati on this:
One doesn’t expect something like this from such a respected voice. Most of the world calls it Covid-19 / Corona, why bring in a country. Sorry, but @bhogleharsha you sound like Donald Trump. https://t.co/SQ8P4NlXt5
— Harshal ? (@Harshal_de) July 6, 2021
Bhogle you are better than this, don’t be xenophobic https://t.co/kqtPqIriy7
— Monumental ( Dusted at 22) (@indusperson) July 6, 2021
Don’t delete sir nothing wrong in it tho https://t.co/zoOK2eBnIy
— Yash??? (@YashR066) July 6, 2021
No one show the guts of saying this
Respect https://t.co/rHxg57pjVR
— Mr. A ? (@cricdrugs) July 6, 2021
Powerful tweet indeed sire. Please, don’t delete it afterwards. https://t.co/XzOdxIzRUc
— Narendra Choudhary (@MarwariJat) July 6, 2021
Hope he does not delete the tweet. https://t.co/Ctp2oTuzqN
— The Data Guy (@DataGuyRedux) July 6, 2021
Your commentary and comments are live facts narrated. Really not everybody have courage to call Chinese’s virus by its name.
— Nilesh Sharma निलेश ਨੀਲੇਸ਼ નિલેશ (@sharma26nilesh) July 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/Vishaltweets12/status/1412334491939471363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1412334491939471363%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.republicworld.com%2Fsports-news%2Fcricket-news%2Fharsha-bhogle-fires-crackling-follow-up-to-his-chinese-virus-tweet-says-its-the-norm.html
The Chinese virus ? is here to stay for a long long time…
— sidharth (@Sidharthap) July 6, 2021
After facing backlash on social media, Harsha Bhogle defended himself by saying: “I noticed the use of the South African variant, the Brazil variant and the Indian variant. I guess it is the norm to refer to something by the country of origin.”
Here, check out the Tweet:
I noticed the use of the South African variant, the Brazil variant and the Indian variant. I guess it is the norm to refer to something by the country of origin. https://t.co/GHb4bbmaBX
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 6, 2021
For the unversed, there has been a great debate about the origins of the dangerous COVID-19. It is suspected and believed by many that the Coronavirus was leaked out of a lab in Wuhan, China, and was created by scientists there. However, the Chinese obviously, deny all such claims.
