Nick Faris
Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016
CBC swimming commentator Byron MacDonald. CBC
CBC apologized online and on-air late Wednesday night after one of its commentators said a defeated Chinese swimmer “died like a pig” during a race.
The incident occurred after the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final, when it seems colour commentator Byron MacDonald thought he wasn’t on-air and said: “The little 14-year-old from China dropped the ball, baby. Too excited, went out like stink, died like a pig. Thanks for that.”
#Rio2016 On CBC, Scott Russell apologized on behalf of Byron MacDonald for gaffe, "[Chinese swimmer] went out like stink, died like a pig."
— Jason Wang (@jaysanw) August 11, 2016
Did the CBC announcer just say the 14 year-old swimmer from China "died like a pig"???? The idiot didn't realize they were still on the air.
— Emmett Macfarlane (@EmmMacfarlane) August 11, 2016
Canada won bronze in that race, and China finished fourth. It wasn’t exactly clear who MacDonald was talking about, but it is believed his remark was directed at Chinese swimmer Ai Yanhan, 14, who swam the second leg of the relay in 1:57.79 — 1.61 seconds slower than Canada’s Taylor Ruck, allowing the Canadians to close the gap on China.
MacDonald apologized on-air Thursday afternoon, saying he didn’t mean for his remark to be construed as a personal attack.
“I would like to take a moment to apologize for a comment that I made last night after the women’s relay,” he said on CBC’s Olympic broadcast. “I was referring to a swimmer’s performance, and not to them as a person. Needless to say, there was no disrespect intended and I’m very sorry.”
The network faced immediate backlash online Wednesday night, as scores of social media users condemned MacDonald’s comment to CBC’s Olympic Twitter account.
“We apologize the comment on a swim performance made it to air. It was an unfortunate choice of words – we’re sorry it happened,” CBC tweeted to users who were upset.
Wow #ByronMacDonald. You represent the CBC and Canada and make us all sound like a bunch of racists. #disgusted @cbcsports @CBCOlympics
— Sarah Paradis (@sarah_paradis) August 11, 2016
#CBCOlympics #swimming analyst Byron MacDonald off-mic comment aired live, Scott Russell apologized for CBC, "unfortunate choice of words."
— SportsMedia inCanada (@SportsMediaCAN) August 11, 2016
“We sincerely regret that these statements were made, and that they were allowed to go to air. We moved quickly last night to apologize to our viewers on-air and to our followers on Social media,” CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson told Postmedia in an email Thursday morning.
“To be clear, Byron’s comments were related to the swimmer’s performance, not to her as an individual. That said, they were inappropriate and an unfortunate choice of words and Byron is very sorry for what he said.”
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Tom Pennington / Getty ImagesChina's Ai Yanhan competes in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final in Rio on Wednesday.
MacDonald’s remarks marked an inauspicious start to the Olympics for a number of official broadcasters.
NBC gymnastics broadcaster Al Trautwig claimed on-air Sunday that the adoptive parents of U.S. gymnast Simone Biles were not her parents. Trautwig later doubled down on Twitter, writing, “They may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents.”
Trautwig distanced himself from his remarks on Monday, telling USA Today in an email statement that “I regret that I wasn’t more clear in my wording on the air. I compounded the error on Twitter, which I quickly corrected.”
NBC’s Chris Marlowe, meanwhile, apologized Tuesday after calling the female spouse of Brazilian beach volleyball player Larissa Franca “her husband” as the two shared a post-match hug. Marlowe said he was “sorry for the mistake.”
And the BBC apologized to viewers after tennis commentator Paul Hand urged “kiss cam” operators to refrain from showing a gay couple. “Let’s hope they don’t go on to two blokes sat next to each other,” Hand said.
“The comment was ill-judged and we apologise to any of our viewers who were offended,” a BBC spokesperson said Tuesday.