Sports commentator Bob Ballard was removed from all of Eurosports’ coverage of the Olympic Games in Paris after a clip of his commentating segment of the Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle team’s medal presentation attracted a lot of heat online.
The commentator commented on air that Australia’s gold-winning female swimmers were slow in wrapping up their medal presentation because of their gender.
He said: “Well, the women just finishing off. You know [what] women are like, hanging around, you know, doing their makeup.”
The reaction to his comments resulted in him being removed immediately from the commentating roster for the rest of the Olympics.
He then issued what he called a statement, but I would call it a non-apology.
“The comments I made during the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have caused some offence,” the statement read.
“It was never my intention to upset or belittle anyone and, if I did, I apologise. I am a massive advocate of women’s sport.”
He went on to thank his supporters for making “life bearable” at a time when “things are tough”.
The phrase “if I have offended anyone” is a hallmark of the infamous non-apology. This choice of words dismisses the fact that he knows he has offended people – after all, it is the reason why he no longer will be commentating on these games.
To dismiss the fact that people have been offended is to add to the belittling that he is attempting to apologise for.
Ballard also committed another PR faux-pas with his statement: he used his apology as an opportunity to talk about himself and how he has been impacted. An apology should always be about the person who has been impacted, not the person who did the offending. Ballard’s inability to put his own experience aside while apologising to those he offended takes away the sincerity of this supposed genuine apology.
If Ballard is confused as to why so many people would find his comments offensive, he would do well to remember a few crucial facts: Firstly, the 2024 Paris Olympics are the first Olympic Games in history to have a 50-50 split in male and female athletes competing. They are alsothe first to feature a woman as the official logo for the games. To make sexist and reductive remarks about a winning female team is to minimise these achievements.
It would also pay for Ballard to remember that professional athletes – male or female – take the Olympics incredibly seriously. After all, they have worked for years for a chance to make it on that podium. If someone doesn’t understand why making comments about make-up during such a monumental moment, perhaps they shouldn’t have a microphone to begin with.
Even if you intended to not offend, but you have offended somebody, then you simply need to acknowledge that without being dismissive. If you cannot apologise because you do not believe you have done the wrong thing, then rather than give a non-apology, do not apologise at all.
A middle-of-the-road, non-apology is worse than saying nothing, and it only exacerbates the problem and makes the story last longer. It does nothing to repair your reputation as a professional either.
A true apology needs to borrow some wisdom from children’s TV show Daniel Tiger, which is: “Saying ‘I’m sorry’ is the first step. Then, ‘how can I help?’” There needs to be some sort of action attached to your apology, and that action is not talking about how your supporters are making your life bearable.
That action needs to be around how you’re going to respond to the situation. If you cannot genuinely put forward what that action might be because perhaps you believe you haven’t done anything wrong, then again you are not sorry and you shouldn’t make a non-apology pretending you are.
In this case, maybe you are sorry that you’ve received a negative reaction, or sorry that people feel a certain way, but you’re not sorry about your actions. And that does not warrant an apology. Instead, it perhaps warrants a statement or silence. A non-apology only adds insult to injury and further demonstrates your lack of understanding and trustworthiness.
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