Another hot mic incident has resulted in a pair of broadcasters being yanked off the air.
British figure skating announcer Simon Reed was heard on a hot mic calling Olympic gold medalist now coach Meagan Duhamel “that bitch from Canada.” His broadcasting partner, Nicky Slater, laughed at the remark. Both were suspended by the International Skating Union (ISU) on Thursday, a day after making the disparaging comment.
“The ISU is shocked by the language used by the two commentators which does not reflect its views whatsoever. The ISU strongly condemns any statements of a discriminatory or prejudicial nature,” the figure skating organization tweeted.
“There is no place for harassing and abusive language or remarks and behavior in sport and our society. The ISU took instant action with its service provider to suspend both commentators with immediate effect and neither will cover any future Figure Skating events for the ISU.”
British broadcaster Simon Reed interviews Maria Sharapova in 2006. Getty ImagesReed and Slater were announcing the pairs event for the ISU’s feed of the World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday. Duhamel, who won the gold medal in pairs for Canada at the 2018 Olympics and was a silver medalist at the 2014 Olympics, was broadcasting the event for the CBC.
Prior to the incident, Duhamel had criticized Reed and Slater for their commentary and called on the ISU to replace them with better broadcasters.
“The ISU YouTube feed commentator said it was sad the Russians aren’t at Worlds,” Duhamel tweeted Wednesday morning. “And then admitted they don’t watch skating often so they ‘aren’t sure’ about jump rotation. Um. There are better options ISU!”
After the hot-mic comments were tweeted, Duhamel responded, “Hahahahahaha!!!! Well done” and tagged the ISU’s account.
Duhamel later said that she had received some apologies.
Meagan Duhamel accepted apologies after she was called “that b—- from Canada” on a hot mic. AFP via Getty Images“Skating twitter, I hope we all enjoy some amazing skating today,” she tweeted on Thursday. “I have received personal apologies from Simon Reed and the ISU president and I don’t think a public apology is necessary at this point. I appreciate and respect their apologies.”
