So if you haven't already heard, Australia's national cricket team is in turmoil after its captain admitted to premeditated cheating during a match against South Africa.
Steve Smith confessed that he and a few other members of the national team's "leadership group" had authorised the illegal practice of ball tampering during the Test match — delegating the deed to young player Cameron Bancroft.
Bancroft was caught by television cameras using a piece of yellow tape to pick up grit from the ground before rubbing the ball with it, in an attempt to change its trajectory when bowled.
There have been a loads of hot takes on the scandal and what it means for Australia's sporting reputation, but the latest from Fairfax columnist Malcolm Knox is ruffling a lot of feathers.
The Australian cricket team cheating is many things but it is not a #MeToo moment. This comparison cheapens a movement that empowers sexual assault survivors. https://t.co/bee3s6vW8v
Knox, who once penned a column about a West Indian cricketer in a Jamaican accent, compares the cheating incident to the #MeToo movement in which countless women shared their experiences of sexual assault and harassment.
"This is cricket's #MeToo moment," Knox writes.
People aren't impressed.
it's wild how women are always telling dudes to stop devaluing their experiences
Putting some tape on a ball has nothing to do with a global movement highlighting "the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault", one person said.
The real #MeToo: a global movement highlighting the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault Cricket’s #MeToo: we put some tape on the ball. https://t.co/leetc00GFR
Others have highlighted how meaningless the hashtag has become when used for news items unrelated to sexual harassment and assault.
Cricket, you get a #MeToo, Banks, you get a #MeToo, Politics, you get a #MeToo. #MeToo for everybody @smh @theage
This survivor had no time for the op-ed.
as a survivor: absolutely go fuck yourselves @smh. how fucking DARE YOU publish this. any person with half a brain can see how offensive this is to survivors + brave participants of #MeToo. shame on the writer, and shame on every person who subbed/edited/approved and said nothing https://t.co/kbcZWaOMB3
A second piece published by Fairfax media explains the analogy a little more clearly:
"Just as in banking scandals and the incidents that created the #MeToo backlash, it's one of those increasingly frequent instances of modern life where abuse of position, whatever can be got away with, is considered OK," Sunday's Australian Financial Review editorial reads.
But we'll leave it up to you to figure out who is the tape, who is the ball, who is the victim of sexual assault and/or harassment in the analogy.
This is Cricket's JFK moment. The ball is JFK, Smith is Lee Harvey Oswald, I am the car, the road is integrity- the grassy knoll is a grassy knoll, and the CIA? Correct- they are the cartoon duck that walks across the screen sometimes