Stephen Fry criticises MCC at Hay Festival: Stinking of privilege and classism [Video]

Stephen Fry, the former celebrity president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), has said the 237-year-old club is full of “beetroot-coloured” men and “stinks” of privilege.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the Welsh literary event Hay Festival, Fry addressed issues of diversity in cricket, having led the MCC from 2022 to 2023. At the festival, an All Stars cricket match took on the Hay-on-Wye Cricket Ground, umpired by Fry, with names from the literary and broadcasting industries going head-to-head in an Actors vs Writers match.

Fry, the actor, writer, and former longtime host of QI, said that “privilege and classism” demonstrated by the MCC “stinks” and that the club has a public face that is “deeply disturbing”.

During the talk about systemic biases and issues of inequality in the sport, Fry, 66, addressed the demographic …