Ben Stokes, the popular England cricketer, was arrested this week after video footage emerged allegedly showing him in a bar fight.
The brawl happened outside the Mbbargo nightclub in Bristol in the early morning hours of September 25. Stokes and his teammate, Alex Hales, were there celebrating England’s win over the West Indies in their third one-day international earlier that day.
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Here’s video of the scary incident:
How about we take this to the next level?
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Not only a good batter & Bowler but a great Street fighter also.
Such a great Allrounder Ben Stokes is.#ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/Znwd7CGxxh
— Ser Rohit Sharma (@ImRo450) September 28, 2017
But there’s been a twist in the story. This wasn’t just a regular old bar fight. It’s being reported that Stokes was actually defending two of his gay friends from a group of homophobic jerks who were harassing them.
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Piers Morgan got the scoop and share it on Twitter yesterday. In a series of tweets, he explains that Stokes told friends he was “incensed by the homophobic taunts” and that he was “protecting” himself and his friends from having a bottle “smashed it in my face.”
BREAKING:
I'm hearing that Ben Stokes intervened to help two gay guys who were being abused by yobs, one of whom was armed with a bottle.— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 28, 2017
2/ Stokes has told friends he was incensed by the homophobic taunts, then saw the bottle being raised & decided to defend himself.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 28, 2017
3) Stokes obviously regrets what happened but apparently his view is: 'They started it, I finished it. I was protecting those guys.'
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 28, 2017
4/ Police are aware of Stokes' version of events & are now trying to find the two gay men, to corroborate what he's said.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 28, 2017
5/ Stokes has told friends: 'The guy had a bottle in his hand & was threatening us, was I supposed to wait until he smashed it in my face?'
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 28, 2017
Meanwhile, a friend of Stokes told MailOnline: “Ben can’t stand homophobia and being the hot-headed ginger he has stepped in. The next thing they knew, one of the men grabbed a bottle and went for them.”
Stokes is cooperating with police and is said to “devastated and fragile” over the whole thing. He will not be considered by England for international cricket until further notice.
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Billy Budd
There is nothing wrong with him in my book. Handsome and lgbt friendly. Just perfect. Release him please.
Smith David
Well, Ben Stokes is also not well known to be a very level headed person either. He causes a lot of trouble on the field and is almost always quick to fight. You can’t allow people to disrespect you or the people you love. I agree. However, you must also think about your bread and butter. And in this case, Ben’s bread and butter is on the chopping block.
hansniemeijer
That is exactly what I want to read on QUEERTY, stories about brave people. Better than homophobic stories about for instance those American self-righteous twin brothers.
Kangol
“Being the hot-headed ginger” was a totally unnecessary bit of stereotyping. Props to him for coming to the aid of LGBTQ friends, though.