Sky Sports was forced to ditch its female-targeted TikTok channel “Halo” just three days after its launch, following widespread criticism that its content—littered with pink hearts and references to “hot girl walks,” matcha, and Barbies—was “patronising” and “unbelievably sexist.”
Sky Sports has been forced to ditch its new female-targeted TikTok channel, “Halo,” just three days after its launch on Thursday, following a deluge of criticism that branded the content “unbelievably sexist,” according to a report from The Guardian.
The channel, which the broadcaster described as the “lil sis” of Sky Sports, was intended to “create a space… for new, young, female fans” and champion female athletes.
However, the youth-focused content, which featured excessive pink hearts and references to cultural trends like “hot girl walks,” matcha, and Barbies, was met with instant derision online.
One heavily criticized post included a video titled “Explaining 2008 Crashgate in girl terms,” which was written in pink text and accompanied by pink nail-polish emojis.
This was greeted with the comment: “What an absolute embarrassment.”
Another video, featuring a goal by Manchester City player Erling Haaland, carried the caption: “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits,” which was described as “one of the most insanely patronising and misogynistic activations i[n]’” sports media.
Despite being aimed at women, it was also noted that five of the channel’s first 11 videos featured male sports stars.
After initially defending the channel, Sky Sports quickly performed a U-turn, sharing a post on X on Saturday stating:
“Our intention for Halo was to create a space alongside our existing channel for new, young, female fans.” The broadcaster concluded with an apology, saying: “We’ve listened. We didn’t get it right.”