Sky Sports has scrapped its new female-focused TikTok channel, Halo, after it faced a backlash online with its posts described as “patronising” and “sexist”.
In a statement posted on social media on Saturday night, the broadcaster admitted that it “didn’t get it right” and that it would be “stopping all activity” on the account.
The channel, which was only announced on Thursday, was touted by the broadcaster as an “inclusive, dedicated platform for women to enjoy and explore content from all sports, while amplifying female voices and perspectives.”
However, many on social media criticised the “little sister” account, which talked about “hot girl walks” and matcha in its content.
At its inception, Sky said Halo’s aim was “to build a welcoming community for female fans, whether casual or committed, through fun, trend-led, and relatable content”.
One post saw a clip of Manchester City players Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland combining for the latter to score against Bournemouth, given the caption “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits”.
Viewers argued the posts were “infantilising” and undermined the work done over the past few years to put women’s sport in the spotlight.
Among those criticising the channel was Emily who told BBC Newsbeat that she thought Halo calling themselves the “little sister” of Sky Sports was a “really damaging” thing to say.
“We’ve spent the last 50 years trying to come away from the stereotypes around women’s sport, and trying to make women’s sport seen as an entity in itself rather than just as an extension of what men can do. We deserve our own space, something that’s ours. We don’t need to be the ‘little sister’ to anyone,” she said.
GirlsontheBall, a prominent platform covering women’s football, voiced its frustrations saying on X they could not “imagine this is what women sports fans want”.
“Have many thoughts which I will get to when not under a mountain of writing but all I can ask is why? The branding (one day can we please be past the pink/peach stage?!), the premise, the copy…”
Sports fan Millie told BBC Newsbeat that she did not think women needed a separate space for content, rather, she says, they need to be equally represented in the content Sky Sports already put out.
“As a sports fan, I’ve consumed generic Sky Sports media for the entirety of the time that I’ve been into sport. I don’t need a pink, glittery sidepiece to the normal content,” she said.
One user said that Sky Sports Halo was one of the worst concepts he had ever seen.
“So condescending. Creating a dumbed down sports channel for women is unbelievably sexist. Incredible that it was approved and that it’s still live,” they said.
While the channel was aimed at women many of the sports stars featured in its posts were men.
Andy Gill, head of social media and audience development at Sky Sports, wrote on LinkedIn that he “couldn’t be prouder and more excited about [Halo’s] launch”, but by Saturday night the broadcaster was forced to rethink.
All but two posts have been deleted from the Halo account, one of which is a brief statement from Sky which reads: “Our intention for Halo was to create a space alongside our existing channel for new, young, female fans.
“We’ve listened. We didn’t get it right. As a result we’re stopping all activity on this account. We’re learning and remain as committed as ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired.”
The BBC contacted Sky for comment but it had nothing further to add.
