CBC Broadcaster Apologizes After Saying Chinese Swimmer 'Died Like A Pig'

2016/08/12

Chen Xiaoli

Program Code: 0909346160809010 Source: Miaopai

The CBC is under fire after one of its commentators said a Chinese swimmer at the Rio Olympics "died like a pig" after she lost a race.

During the broadcast of women's 4 x 200m freestyle relay final, commentator Byron MacDonald said, "That little 14-year-old from China dropped the ball, baby," unaware that his microphone was still turned on.

"Too excited, went out like stink, died like a pig. Thanks for that."

It is believed that MacDonald was referring to 14-year-old Chinese swimmer Ai Yanhan. Her time in the second leg of the relay helped Canada to bounce back and take the bronze, while China finished in fourth place.

MacDonald’s remark immediately caused outrage online with listeners tweeting their disbelief. Some of them demanded that he be sacked, The Guardian said in a report.

According to The National Post, MacDonald apologized on-air on Thursday, saying he didn't mean to disrespect the swimmer personally.

"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 report said, the CBC also apologized to angry social media users, tweeting: "We apologize the comment on a swim performance made it to air. It was an unfortunate choice of words — we're sorry it happened."

The CBC issued a formal statement on their @CBCOlympics Twitter page and said, "We sincerely regret that these statements were made. To be clear, Byron's comments were related to the swimmer's performance, not to her as an individual. Nonetheless, they were inappropriate and an unfortunate choice of words and Byron is very sorry for what he said."

According to media reports, MacDonald is a former Canadian national team member and was ranked as one of the 10 best swimmers in the world in the 1970s. He won two Commonwealth Games gold medals and placed sixth in the 100-meter butterfly at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

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CBC Broadcaster Apologizes After Saying Chinese Swimmer 'Died Like A Pig'

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