Canadian broadcaster apologizes for on-air remarks about Chinese swimmer
If this were the Olympics of bad commentating, it’d be quite a race for gold in Rio de Janeiro.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation swimming analyst Byron MacDonald was the latest to join the fray, describing the 200-meter freestyle relay final like thus: “That little 14-year-old girl from China dropped the ball, baby. Too excited. Went out like stink and died like a pig. Thanks for that.”
It seemed MacDonald, a 1972 Olympian and longtime University of Toronto swimming coach, did not realize his microphone was still on during Thursday’s live broadcast. His comments appeared to be directed towards China’s Ai Yanhan, 14, who finished the second leg 1.61 slower than Canada’s Taylor Ruck, opening the door for the Canadian relay team’s bronze medal finish. China placed fourth.
CBC Olympic host Scott Russell later apologized on air for his colleague’s remarks, according to the National Post, and the broadcasting corporation also issued apologies on Twitter to offended users.
@KennyVLimaC We apologize the comment on a swim performance made it to air. It was an unfortunate choice of words – we're sorry it happened
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 11, 2016
That didn’t prevent somebody from tampering with MacDonald’s Wikipedia bio, though.
MacDonald’s “unfortunate choice of words” were merely the latest in what’s becoming a trend in Rio. NBC gymnastics announcer Al Trautwig apologized for remarks he made about Simone Biles’ parents. NBC beach volleyball analyst Chris Marlowe issued a statement saying he was “sorry for the mistake” of calling Larissa Franca’s same-sex spouse her “husband.” And BBC tennis commentator Paul Hand’s remarks during a kiss cam segment — “let’s hope they don’t go on to two blokes sat next to each other” — were denounced by the network as “ill-judged” in an apology to offended viewers.
A friendly reminder to Rio broadcasters: Your microphones are on, and lots of people are watching.
– – – – – – –
Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
