This BBC Commentator Made A Homophobic Comment At The Olympics And The Internet Was Not Pleased
A BBC commentator for the Olympics ignited an online debate after casually suggesting he didn't want to see two men kissing.
Paul Hand made a comment about "two blokes" during the live footage of British tennis player Johanna Konta in the singles quarter finals. He said "lets hope they don't go on to two blokes sat next to each other" after the camera had zoomed onto a man and woman kissing.
Paul Hand, our former ATP, is in Rio commentating on tennis, badminton & table tennis for the @Olympics! #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/h3ZNkkSWdl
¡ª David Lloyd So'ton (@DLLSouthampton) August 9, 2016
And almost immediately after making that comment he faced a flood of abuse online with people accusing him of homophobia although the comment was made in a casual and good-humoured manner.
The camera had moments earlier zoomed onto a couple (from what it seems) and he said, "Come on, let's have a kiss" and then added, "Let's hope they don't go on to two blokes sat next to each other."
Almost immediately one Twitter user wrote:
@BBCSport Could you tell your tennis commentators that two men kissing is ok, and they should avoid being homophobic? That would be grand.
¡ª (((NissMassarano))) (@nmassarano) August 9, 2016
And others followed suit:
It's actually just an apology from the BBC, I think Paul Hand should apologise personally
¡ª alexington (@lxthrdg) August 10, 2016
@BBCSport Your commentator on the Konta/Kuznetsova match has just made a horrid homophobic comment about how he hopes not to see men kissing
¡ª Peter McColl (@PeterMcColl) August 9, 2016
Hope you don't accidentally vocalise your homophobia on live TV, more like, Paul Hand. https://t.co/EfZ9hyytuV
¡ª Peter (@Pete_Thom) August 10, 2016
No place for homophobia in this world. Fuck off Paul Hand
¡ª Joe C (@ProdigyRep) August 10, 2016
If Paul Hand made a racist joke would he be sacked? There's no room for sexism or homophobia anywhere today. Zero tolerance.
¡ª Jen Kerrison (@jenkerro) August 10, 2016
A BBC spokesman said: "The comment was ill-judged and we apologise to any of our viewers who were offended."
