You may have heard that over the first week of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, British sports commentator Bob Ballard was dismissed by Eurosport for a comment directed at the Australian women’s swimming team. The remark?
“Well, the women just finishing off. You know what women are like, hanging around, you know, doing their makeup.”
Eurosport was quick to react with a one-two punch, labelling his remark as “inappropriate”, and then following up by removing Ballard from the commentary roster. But did they over react? Is Eurosport too woke? And was Ballard simply being cheeky?
To determine on which side of the metaphorical fence Bob Ballard’s throw-away line falls – cheeky or offensive – the Australian-based Hard Knock Knocks Comedy School has donned a unique pair of glasses. These glasses feature two distinct lenses; lenses that are useful to those performing on stage or within the commentators’ booth.
Lens 1: Was Ballard’s comment a ‘valid stereotype’?
Bob’s comment was related to women and makeup.
It’s no surprise that women dominate the consumer market, accounting for around 67.44% of global cosmetics revenue. But did you know that 85% of (American) women who wear makeup, and match the same age as those four female Australian swimmers (18 to 29 years old), admit to spending more than 20 minutes per day in its application?
So statistically, Ballard was right. Women do ‘hang around’ (aka spend a lot of time) applying makeup. Except, in this case, they weren’t; applying makeup, that is. Those four olympic swimmers, that which the Sydney Morning Herald labelled as the ‘Flawless Foursome’, weren’t applying foundation, mascara or lippy. In this case, they had won gold and were simply savouring the moment.
Which brings us to lens number two.
Lens 2: Was Ballard’s comment ‘intentionally’ offensive?
We add the word ‘intentionally’ because, let’s be fair, the bar for being insulted in 2024 is at an all time low. Was Bob Ballard just being ‘cheeky’ (you, know like the definition: Disrespectful in a playful way), or was Bob going out of his way to insult the four Aussie legends?
To test his intention, let’s create a baseline. Since Bob Ballard is neither a women, nor is he Australian, let’s rephrase his statement accordingly:
Gender
“Look at those men finishing up. You know what men are like … hanging around, chatting about football.”
Had the four swimmers been men, its hard to find anything insulting about the above statement. But what if ‘Bob’ had been ‘Roberta’? Would the statement, uttered by a female commentator, be seen as cheeky or offensive? Unlikely.
Nationality
“Look at those Australians finishing up. You know what Australians are like … hanging around, chatting over a barbie.”
Remember, Bob Ballard is British, and he’s referring to a group of Australians. There’s a cultural norm, developed over the past two hundred years, of bilateral mocking, teasing and sledging. Just ask any whinging pom. So in fact, was Bob simply adopting the norm? A norm that the France-based Eurosport didn’t understand? Likely.
Our Opinion?
Eurosport was too woke in dismissing Bob Ballard.
Had a similar comment been directed at the Australian male relay swimming team, by him or a female commentator, we’d simply call it cheeky. And at the very least, Bob Ballard who has over 40 years of broadcasting experience and seven Olympics under his belt, should get the benefit of the doubt.