Sky Sports has scrapped its new female-focused TikTok channel, Halo, after it faced backlash online with its posts described as “condescending” and “sexist”.
In a statement posted to social media on Saturday night, the broadcaster said it “didn’t get it right” and would “stop all activity” on the account.
The channel, which was announced on Thursday, was described by the broadcaster as an “inclusive and dedicated platform for women to enjoy and explore content from all sports, while amplifying female voices and perspectives.”
However, many on social media criticized the “little sister” account, which talked about “hot girl rides” and matcha in its content.
At its inception, Sky said Halo’s goal was to “build a welcoming community for female fans, whether casual or committed, through fun, trend-oriented 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, with the caption “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits.”
Viewers argued that the posts were “infantilizing” and undermined the work done in recent years to put women’s sport in the spotlight.
Among those who criticized the channel was Emily Trees, 23, who told BBC Newsbeat that she thought Halo, calling themselves Sky Sports’ “little sister”, was “really damaging”.
“We have spent the last 50 years trying to move away from the stereotypes around women’s sport and trying to make women’s sport seen as an entity in itself and not simply an extension of what men can do. We deserve our own space, something that is ours. We don’t need to be anyone’s ‘little sister’,” she said.
GirlsontheBall, a prominent platform covering women’s football, expressed their frustration, saying on X that they couldn’t “imagine that this is what female sports fans want.”
“I have a lot of ideas that I’ll come up with when I’m not under a mountain of writing, but all I can ask is why? The branding (can we ever get past the pink/peach stage?!), the premise, the text…”
Sports fan Millie Jones, 27, told BBC Newsbeat that she did not believe women needed a separate space for content, but rather that they should be equally represented in the content Sky Sports already published.
“As a sports fan, I’ve consumed generic Sky Sports media for as long as I’ve been playing sport. I don’t need a bright, pink supplement to regular content,” he said.
One user said that Sky Sports Halo was one of the worst concepts he had ever seen.
“How condescending. Creating a dumb sports channel for women is incredibly sexist. It’s amazing it was approved and is still on,” they said.
Some social media users have also created fake posts of the channel’s content that have been widely shared.
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 more proud and excited about [Halo’s] launch”, but on Saturday night the station was forced to reconsider.
All but two posts have been removed from Halo’s account, one of which is a brief statement from Sky that reads: “Our intention for Halo was to create a space alongside our existing channel for new, young female fans.
“We listened. We didn’t get it right. As a result, we are pausing all activity on this account. We are learning and remain as committed as ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired.”
The BBC contacted Sky for comment but had nothing further to add.
Nov. 16 Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to a post as being published by Halo, but it was a mockup not produced by the channel.
