Fresh off his triumph in getting women into the Garrick Club, Stephen Fry is directing his ire elsewhere.
The actor, 66, attacked his former cricket club, saying it “reeks of privilege”.
The QI presenter said the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), of which he was president from 2022 to 2023, reeked of “classism” and was full of “beet-coloured” men.
He told the Hay Festival: “He has a public face that is deeply disturbing: a sort of beet-coloured gentleman in yellow and orange jackets sitting in this space opposite the Long Room looking like he’s stepped out of an Edwardian caricature.
He added that the annual match between Eton and Harrow public schools, traditionally held at the 237-year-old club at Lord’s Cricket Ground, north-west London, was a prime example of this privilege.
Stephen Fry (pictured) attacked his former cricket club, saying it ‘reeks of privilege’
The QI presenter said Marylebone Cricket Club (pictured), of which he was president from 2022 to 2023, reeked of “classism” and was full of “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 has been) for hundreds of years: largely fleshy white Englishmen… who are running things.’
Earlier this month, Fry threatened to leave the all-male Garrick Club unless members voted to admit women.
The motion was passed, meaning women, possibly including classicist Dame Mary Beard and broadcaster Cathy Newman, can join the 193-year-old institution.
