Former Zimbabwean cricketer, Henry Olonga issued a public apology in response to the false announcement of Heath Streak’s death by him earlier this week. Olonga took to his Facebook account to express regret for the misinformation and extended apologies to his former teammate.
Several days ago, Olonga made a post on social media claiming that Heath Streak, who had been courageously battling colon and liver cancer since May 2023, had tragically passed away. This news quickly gained traction, spreading across various platforms.
However, the news was swiftly invalidated by Streak himself, who not only debunked the rumors of his death but also voiced his distress regarding the rapid spread of false information on social media. Streak expressed feeling ‘very upset and hurt’ by the situation.
Olonga later clarified the situation, sharing a screenshot of a conversation he had with Streak, confirming that his former teammate was, in fact, alive. However, the news had already gained significant momentum by that point, spreading virally.
In an effort to rectify the situation, Olonga took to his Facebook account on August 26th to issue a heartfelt and extensive apology. In his post, he expressed profound remorse over his role in perpetuating the false news.
The 47-year-old former fast bowler extended his apologies to everyone. Olonga shared, “Obviously I am extremely sorry that I took it as gospel. I then placed my own tributes which seemed to gather a lot of traction only to get a text from Heath a few hours later in which he asked me to reverse the decision. I then had to backtrack and attempt to fix the error that unfortunately had gone global. But how can it get fixed easily in this day and age? So I retracted as best I could.”
“Of course, I apologized profusely to the Streaks following the blunder. They didn’t require this. In any event, I hope you understand the context today, and I thank you again for your forgiveness for my involvement in this regrettable affair,” Olonga added.
Heath Streak, renowned as one of Zimbabwe’s most accomplished all-rounders, has left an indelible mark on cricket. Over his illustrious career from 1993 to 2005, Streak secured 216 wickets in Test matches and 239 scalps in ODIs.
Beyond his playing career, Streak took on coaching roles for the national teams of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. He also coached the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Lions in the IPL.