Ben Stokes finds himself in the most tumultuous times of his career right now. If the arrest after a brawl in Bristol and New Balance severing ties with him was not enough, Ben Stokes is under fire again for another abhorrent act where he made fun of Harvey Price, son of Katie Price who is differently abled in a video.
Who is Katie Price?
Katie Price is a television personality and glamour model from Brighton, England. Her son Harvey, born in 2002 is blind suffers from a condition named septo optic dysplasia.
What was the video?
Harvey Price swore on ITV”s Loose Women in 2016 when he was asked how he deals with bullies in his life. He accidentally shouted “you c***” when he was asked this.
Ben Stokes tried to impersonate Harvey in a video. First, he says in Katie”s voice, “Harvey, what do you say when people are being mean?” Then he makes mimicry of Harvey and says, “Hello you c***!” and laughs. While all this is going on there is another man who is filming this video.
In a statement released on Twitter, he said, “Earlier this year I was shown a clip of Harvey being asked on “Loose Women” how he responds to internet trolls.
“I loved Harvey”s directness with his response – he said what most of us think but perhaps aren”t brave enough to say, let alone on live TV.
“I foolishly attempted to copy the clip after I saw it a few times. I should never have done this and I am so sorry. It was absolutely not my intention to offend Harvey, Katie or anybody else.
https://twitter.com/benstokes38/status/918153173214392321
“I have written to both Harvey and Katie to say sorry and prior to this offered to meet in person at the end of last month with a view to also getting behind their petition about online bullying. I do hope I can put this right.”
Last week it was confirmed that Ben Stokes will not travel with the England team for Ashes 2017-18. The first Ashes test starts at Gabba, Brisbane on November 23. Stokes was originally named in the squad but later removed as England included fast bowler Steve Finn in touring party.
– by Atharva Apte