Racist comment from friends is ok: Symonds

Melbourne: Andrew Symonds does not mind the odd racist comment at his expense, but only from people he is friendly with, the Australian all-rounder said today.

Symonds labelled Harbhajan Singh's alleged racial taunt as "unacceptable" and vowed not to tolerate remarks from rival players with whom he has no friendship.

Ahead of the Perth Test against India, Symonds declared he could tolerate racism - but only from those he knew. "I'm not a sensitive person about it," he said. "If you know me well you can have a joke to me about anything and any part of racism and I'll laugh," he was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

What’s to be done about Yuvraj Singh? | Full coverage: India in Australia

"I mean, I'm not sensitive about it but if I'm not your friend, if you're an opposition player or something like that, it is unacceptable"

However, Symonds said some rival cricketers could afford to make a racist comment without raising his ire.

"Even with opposition players, if I do know them well and they want to joke about something like that, it doesn't stir me up so what's happened is something I and the Australian boys have taken very seriously. It (the racism affair) is a really difficult thing for me to comment on as it hasn't been totally resolved," he said.