Sky Sports activities has scrapped its new female-focused TikTok channel, Halo, after it confronted a backlash on-line with its posts described as “patronising” and “sexist”.
In a press release posted on social media on Saturday night time, the broadcaster mentioned it “did not get it proper” and that it might be “stopping all exercise” on the account.
The channel, which was solely introduced on Thursday, was described by the broadcaster as an “inclusive, devoted platform for ladies to get pleasure from and discover content material from all sports activities, whereas amplifying feminine voices and views.”
Nevertheless, many on social media criticised the “little sister” account, which talked about “scorching lady walks” and matcha in its content material.
At its inception, Sky mentioned Halo’s purpose was “to construct a welcoming group for feminine followers, whether or not informal or dedicated, via enjoyable, trend-led, and relatable content material”.
One publish noticed a clip of Manchester Metropolis gamers Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland combining for the latter to attain towards Bournemouth, given the caption “How the matcha + scorching lady stroll combo hits”.
Viewers argued the posts had been “infantilising” and undermined the work performed over the previous few years to place girls’s sport within the highlight.
Amongst these criticising the channel was Emily Timber, 23, who instructed BBC Newsbeat that she thought Halo calling themselves the “little sister” of Sky Sports activities was a “actually damaging” factor to say.
“We have spent the final 50 years making an attempt to return away from the stereotypes round girls’s sport, and making an attempt to make girls’s sport seen as an entity in itself reasonably than simply as an extension of what males can do. We deserve our personal area, one thing that is ours. We do not should be the ‘little sister’ to anybody,” she mentioned.
GirlsontheBall, a distinguished platform masking girls’s soccer, voiced its frustrations saying on X they may not “think about that is what girls sports activities followers need”.
“Have many ideas which I’ll get to when not beneath a mountain of writing however all I can ask is why? The branding (at some point can we please be previous the pink/peach stage?!), the premise, the copy…”
Sports activities fan Millie Jones, 27, instructed BBC Newsbeat that she didn’t assume girls wanted a separate area for content material, reasonably, she says, they should be equally represented within the content material Sky Sports activities already put out.
“As a sports activities fan, I’ve consumed generic Sky Sports activities media for the whole lot of the time that I have been into sport. I do not want a pink, glittery sidepiece to the conventional content material,” she mentioned.
One consumer mentioned that Sky Sports activities Halo was one of many worst ideas he had ever seen.
“So condescending. Making a dumbed down sports activities channel for ladies is unbelievably sexist. Unbelievable that it was accredited and that it is nonetheless stay,” they mentioned.
Some social media customers have additionally created spoof posts of the channel’s content material which have been extensively shared.
Whereas the channel was geared toward girls most of the sports activities stars featured in its posts had been males.
Andy Gill, head of social media and viewers improvement at Sky Sports activities, wrote on LinkedIn that he “could not be prouder and extra enthusiastic about [Halo’s] launch”, however by Saturday night time the broadcaster was compelled to rethink.
All however two posts have been deleted from the Halo account, considered one of which is a quick assertion from Sky which reads: “Our intention for Halo was to create an area alongside our present channel for brand new, younger, feminine followers.
“We have listened. We did not get it proper. Consequently we’re stopping all exercise on this account. We’re studying and stay as dedicated as ever to creating areas the place followers really feel included and impressed.”
The BBC contacted Sky for remark nevertheless it had nothing additional so as to add.
Correction 16 November: An earlier model of this story incorrectly referred to 1 publish as having been revealed by Halo nevertheless it was a mock-up not produced by the channel.
