Sky Sports has been forced to ditch its female-targeted TikTok channel Halo three days after its launch, following criticism that it was patronising and “unbelievably sexist”.
Halo, which was described as the “lil sis” of Sky Sports by the broadcaster, launched on Thursday with a now-deleted post that read: “We’re about ALL sports and championing female athletes. We’re here for the culture, community and connection. We don’t just watch sports – we live it.”
But the youth-focused content – which was littered with pink hearts, referencing “hot girl walks”, matcha and Barbies – was greeted with instant derision. It was also noted that despite being aimed at women, five of the channel’s first 11 videos featured male sports stars.
Despite initially backing the channel, Sky Sports quickly performed a U-turn, sharing a post on X on Saturday that said: “Our intention for Halo was to create a space alongside our existing channel for new, young, female fans.
“We’ve listened. We didn’t get it right. As a result we’re stopping all activity on this account. We’re learning and remain as committed as ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired.”
The women’s football website GirlsontheBall did not disguise its dismay at the content when Halo launched. “The branding (one day can we please be past the pink/peach stage?!), the premise, the copy,” the site posted on X. “Can’t imagine this is what women sports fans want and taking a brief look at the comments it seems like we’re not alone.”
The women’s football magazine She Kicks described some posts – such as one that featured the mayor-elect of New York and the caption “Thinking about Zohran Mamdani rizzing us and Arsenal up” – as “strange”, adding: “It is clear that Sky Sports are trying to grow their brand in women’s football but the new Halo channel seems to be going the wrong way about it.”
Heavily criticised TikTok posts included one titled “Explaining 2008 Crashgate in girl terms”, written in pink text with pink nail-polish emojis, which was greeted with the comment: “What an absolute embarrassment.”
Another video, which featured a clip of the Manchester City player Rayan Cherki linking up with Erling Haaland for one of the latter’s goals against Bournemouth, accompanied by the caption “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits”, was described as “one of the most insanely patronising and misogynistic activations i’ve seen from a brand”.
The commenter added: “Women do not need a dumbed down version of sports, we are perfectly capable of watching sports and following the regular pages rather than needing to watch videos about wags or putting matcha in your caption.”
In a comment under the post, one user wrote: “Can’t believe this is what you think female sports fans like.” In response, Halo said: “Can’t believe you brought that kind of energy.”
The unceremonious ditching of the TikTok channel was welcomed by fans of women’s sports, with wags noting that Halo had a shorter lifespan than the European Super League and this weekend’s international break in football. At least one commenter appeared, perhaps, to be upset. “Halo has passed away,” they wrote. “RIP u will live on forever. can’t believe it. I wanna run to u. Really can’t believe this.”
