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sky sports has imposed its controversial new ban tiktok channel halo Only three days after widespread reaction online.
Sky Sports Halo launched on Thursday, branded as Sky Sports’ “little sister” and clearly targeted at female sports fans. “We’re all about sports and championing female athletes. We’re here for culture, community and connection. We don’t just watch sports – we live it,” read the announcement post.
But the channel’s notion of alienating female sports fans with its “Lil Sis” branding, pink glowing text and content more referring to matcha, “hot girl walks” and LaBubu toys than the actual game generated an almost universally negative reaction, with fans arguing it was patronizing and sexist.
Despite previously supporting the channel, Sky Sports shared a post on X on Saturday, saying: “Our intention for Halo was to create a space for new, young, female fans alongside our existing channel.
“We’ve listened. We don’t feel right. As a result we’re pausing all activity on this account. We’re learning and remain as committed as ever to creating a space where fans feel included and inspired.”
Posts, including a TikTok titled “Explaining 2008 Crashgate in terms of girls” in pink text with a pink nail polish emoji, became wildly popular with viewers. Another video featured a clip of Manchester City players Ryan Cherky and Erling Haaland combining to score a goal against Bournemouth, titled “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits”.
Fans argued that the content was regressive and undermined the important work done over the past few years to put the women’s game in the spotlight and push for gender equality.
Girls on the Ball, a women’s football forum with 51,000 followers on X, posted: “The branding (one day can we move past the pink/peach phase?!), the premise, the copy… can’t imagine this is what female sports fans want and a brief look at the comments looks like we’re not alone.”
Another commenter’s post on
The original post on Sky Sports’ website launching the channel read: “Sky Sports has launched Sky Sports Hello, a brand new TikTok channel built specifically to engage and entertain female sports fans, providing an inclusive platform for women to enjoy all sports while amplifying women’s voices.” The post itself has been removed.
The broadcaster’s head of social media Andy Gill previously attempted to defend the channel, saying: “I couldn’t be more proud and excited about this launch. Proud because it’s been driven by the women on our team and the whole business has embraced and supported it. And, well, excited because of the possibilities.”
However, the channel did not survive the weekend.