Michael Vaughan suspended by the BBC following racial allegations against Azeem Rafiq

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has been suspended by the BBC following racial accusations by Azeem Rafiq made before a County Championship match in 2009. Dan Roan, BBC's Sports Editor, announced the news via Twitter as the organization stressed it was taking such allegations seriously.

Following Azeem Rafiq's allegations, Rana Naved-Ul-Hasan, who featured for Yorkshire at that time, backed them up. The former Pakistan cricketer told ESPN Cricinfo he heard Michael Vaughan making racial comments.

The BBC released a detailed statement, saying they would refuse to ignore these allegations. The media house decided to omit the 47-year-old as a presenter on Monday's episode of the Tuffers and Vaughan Show to maintain the integrity of the program. A BBC spokesperson said:

"The BBC takes any allegations of racism extremely seriously. The allegation against Michael Vaughan pre-dates his time working for the BBC, we were not part of the investigation conducted by Yorkshire County Cricket Club and we have had no access to the subsequent report. We have made the editorial decision that Michael won't appear as a presenter on 5 live's Tuffers and Vaughan Show on Monday. The show focuses on discussions around current cricketing matters and given his personal involvement, we need to ensure we maintain the impartiality of the program."

Azeem Rafiq's racism saga has resulted in grave ramifications as Yorkshire County Cricket Club has borne the brunt for their failure to investigate the cricketer's claims well enough. The ECB has suspended them from hosting international games indefinitely and the club chairman has stepped down from his position.

Michael Vaughan strongly denies the allegations against him

Vaughan, writing in his column for The Telegraph, wrote that the investigation report alleged he told Rafiq and two other Asian players that there were 'too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.'

However, the 2005-Ashes winning skipper stated he was astonished to read those comments.

Vaughan revealed that he didn't see the evidence coming and felt it was difficult to digest. Although the 47-year old sympathized with what Rafiq had gone through, he confidently stated he had not made the 'you lot' comment.