Sky Sports’ ‘Halo’ TikTok Channel: What went wrong?

Sky Sports launched ‘Halo’ on Thursday 13^th November – a TikTok channel dedicated to female sports fans. The original idea sounded inclusive and a modern way to engage the female audience.

However, the execution has been labelled as “sexist” and “patronising” by thousands online, with the broadcasting company using pink glowing fonts combined with captions about stereotypical female activities – drinking matcha, ‘hot girl walks’, and even going as far as labelling the channel as “Sky Sports’ lil’ sis”. The entire sport community has come together online to express their disgust towards this concept.

Having been striving for equality for decades, the female sports community views this as a major setback. Many expected the page to uplift females in sport rather than segregate them through the use of the phrases above.

The progress made by females in sport has been immeasurable, particularly since the Lionesses’ historic European Championships triumph in 2022. There have been several trailblazers pushing for equality – many of these figures have expressed their concern over Sky Sports’ execution of the channel concept.

Not only have prominent figures responded, but also smaller creators online have voiced their opinions. People have come out in numbers online to really hammer home the message that this sort of concept is not appropriate, especially after the sheer progress made recently.

The backlash received has resulted in the channel being axed, releasing a statement online. In the statement, they explained how they “didn’t get it right” and that they are “learning and remain as committed as ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired”. Comments remained turned off on this post, but responses to the axing have flooded social media.

Whether or not the broadcasting company will choose to reignite the idea in an alternative way is yet to be determined, but there would certainly need to be a vast number of changes made for people to indulge in the idea.