Kicked out at figure skating world championships
Commentator talks about “slut from Canada”
03/26/2022, 2:06 p.m
At the World Figure Skating Championships, there was a scandal off the ice: the two commentators on the live stream were fired by the world association because they insulted the former Canadian pair skater Meagan Duhamel. Among other things, they speak of the “bitch”.
An Olympic gold medalist, two-time world champion, figure skating expert, Canadian – these are all appropriate descriptions for 36-year-old Meagan Duhamel. But she was now referred to as “Bitch from Canada”. This is now costing two commentators their jobs: The world ice skating association ISU has separated from Simon Reed and his colleague Nicky Slater at the figure skating world championships in Montpellier with immediate effect after a verbal derailment. The association said Reed and Slater disrespected former Canadian pair skater Meagan Duhamel.
The ISU, headed by Jan Dijkema, said nothing about the content of the statements. “The ISU strongly condemns statements of a discriminatory or biased nature,” it said. There was more elsewhere: The two had described Duhamel, who reports on the World Cup as an expert for the Canadian broadcasting company CBC, among other things as “Bitch from Canada”, i.e. as a “slut”, “bitch” or “bitch”.
The statements were picked up by a microphone that was apparently turned on by mistake. The ISU was “shocked by the language of the two commentators,” the association said. At the same time, the 36-year-old team Olympic champion from 2018 was apologized for “inappropriate and unacceptable behavior by the two commentators”.
The ISU announced that an internal investigation would be initiated. The two commentators would never again be cast for federation figure skating events.
“Big Fan of Hers”
Reed tweeted after his sacking: “I spoke to Meagan Duhamel. Meagan understood my off-screen joke was referring to something very imprudent. Meagan accepts that, she knows I’m a huge fan of hers and it’s a real shame “It’s taken out of context. We hope to meet up for a beer.”
Duhamel responded on Twitter without rancor. “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 the apologies,” the two-time world champion wrote.
The scandal was preceded by criticism from Duhamel. She wrote on Twitter that there were “better options” than letting 63-year-old Slater and 74-year-old Reed comment on the World Cup. They had apparently previously admitted that they did not follow ice skating intensively.