Commentator Bob Ballard has been benched from the Olympic Games coverage after he made a sexist remark about Australia’s female swimmers.
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The Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team claimed the gold medal and was exiting the Paris Aquatic Centre. That’s when Ballard unleaded his unforgivable remark which shook the English-speaking world.
“Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like… hanging around, doing their make-up,” Ballard quipped, per Deadline.
Broadcaster Lizzie Simmonds, commenting alongside Ballard, labeled the remark as “outrageous.”
The comment is particularly damning, especially given that this year, Paris organizers have branded the Olympics as “The Equal Games.” The slogan highlights that women now make up 50% of the participants.
Meanwhile, Ballard isn’t a spring chicken when it comes to broadcasting. With over four decades of experience in media, Ballard has dedicated his broadcasting career to covering swimming, diving, and water polo.
Ballard’s bosses at Eurosport issued a statement about the veteran broadcaster’s sexist gaffe. “During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment. To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect,” they said.
The Internet Reacts to Olympics Broadcaster Getting Yanked Off the Air Due to Sexist Remark
Of course, many viewers took issue with Ballard’s comment and took to the internet to voice their frustrations.
“When will these people ever learn?” Loughborough University’s Professor Pragya Agarwal wrote on X. “Why aren’t they being given some training?”
“Bob Ballard hang your head in shame and get off the broadcast and back to the 1930s,” another outraged Olympics watcher added.
However, many felt folks were clutching their pearls over nothing. “Thought ‘young women in swimsuits, bet he said something gross’ Then I saw the remark and it’s so innocent,” one denizen of X wrote in support of Ballard.
“I would say I am pretty “woke” if woke means progressive,” another X user added. “But I am not going to just accept Bob Ballard needed to lose his job for a weak gaffe. Have we lost our f–ing minds??”
So far, Ballard nor his cohost Lizzie Simmonds have commented on the incident.
However, Ballard made a brief comment on X, extending his best wishes to Eurosport’s Laura Winter for her broadcast on Sunday night.
“Have a great one,’ a seemingly humbled Ballard wrote.