In a compromise agreement today, Cricket Australia said it would allow Usman Khawaja to take to the field with messages written on his shoes, provided the messages were promoting a multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation and not world peace.
“We spoke to Uzzie, and we said, ‘Look mate, claiming that all lives are equal is a little confronting. It’s divisive. And the last thing we want to do is make people uncomfortable. So how about you wear the message of a corporation that’s made profits through the exploitation of slave-labour instead?
“It’s not quite what he had in mind, but I think we can all agree that’s a little less controversial than claiming that freedom is a human right,” a spokesperson for Cricket Australia said.
Cricket Australia said it was up to Khawaja whether he wore the ‘Just Do It’ message on his shoes or not, but confirmed wearing the ‘Spirit of Australia’ slogan on his shirt was not negotiable. “Do you know how much money Qantas pays us for that? If Uzzie wants to pay us $5 million a year he can have what ever the fuck he wants printed on the shirts”.
