Sports anchor sacked for ‘dogs’ comment
Print Edition
A SHANGHAI sports anchor was sacked last night for calling visiting players “dogs” during a match between Shanghai Shenhua Greenland and Jiangsu Sainty.
Zhou Liang, PPTV’s sports center director, had earlier been suspended pending an investigation, the online video platform said.
PPTV issued a statement on Weibo, saying it decided to sack Zhou and another person, who was not identified, who were both directly responsible for the incident.
“We did our investigation and can confirm that the indecent remark was made by Zhou,” PPTV said. “It has hurt many soccer fans, for which we sincerely apologize. We are zero-tolerant to such a behavior.”
Zhou, a former Shanghai Television anchor, called the team from neighboring Jiangsu Province “north Jiangsu dogs” at the start of Wednesday night’s China Football Association Cup semi-final at Shanghai’s Hongkou Football Stadium.
In a video clip that circulated widely online, Zhou is heard to announce: “Let me introduce the starting players with the Jiangsu Sainty… No. 1 is north Jiangsu dog, No. 2 north Jiangsu dog, No. 3 is a north Jiangsu dog from Brazil, No. 6 is a north Jiangsu dog from Lebanon…”
He finished off: “the No. 24 is the last north Jiangsu dog.”
However, in a 3am post on his microblog account yesterday, Zhou denied abusing the players and claimed that the video clip had been faked.
“I never expressed any abusive comments during the game and will apply to use legal process to protect my personal interests and reputation,” he said.
He said that he was willing to cooperate in any investigation and he apologized to Jiangsu fans for any misunderstanding.
That investigation has now found that he did, indeed, make the remarks.
Even before the game was over, which ended with Jiangsu winning 2-0, angry Jiangsu fans had posted demands for an apology online.
On his microblog, Zhou responded: “Why are over 1,300 soccer fans abusing me together? …Have I said anything improper? I don’t think so.”
His microblog eventually received more than 4,000 comments, most of them asking for an apology and demanding he be sacked.
Before news of the sacking, Liu Jun, the Jiangsu club’s general manager, said it would ask the Chinese Football Association to investigate while reserving the right to take any legal action.
He said that the video website should never have broadcast the abuse whether the words had been said by Zhou or not.
Zhou, a former assistant chairman and spokesman for the Shanghai club, set up an Internet channel to comment on its games after joining PPTV.
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