OT: TSN supports SportsCentre hosts after social media backlash

[hockeywiz542]

http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=416459

TSN responded publicly on Wednesday to racist messages targeted at SportsCentre hosts Gurdeep Ahluwalia and Nabil Karim, strongly supporting both on-air personalities along with the network's long-standing commitment to having the best talent on its multiple platforms.

"In this day and age, it's unfortunate we continue to witness examples of ignorance and intolerance on social media," said Stewart Johnston, President of TSN. "Some, not all, of the comments posted on Twitter about Nabil and Gurdeep, spoke to the worst of social media. It's noteworthy and gratifying, however, that there was significant and rapid pushback on Twitter. Nabil and Gurdeep are two accomplished broadcasters and our viewers can expect to see lots more of them on TSN."

There was considerable backlash on Twitter as numerous racist tweets appeared after Gurdeep and Nabil hosted the late night edition of SportsCentre together on Tuesday night.

Nabil has been a mainstay on SportsCentre as anchor and reporter since December of 2011 after covering a number of major sporting events for the CBC including the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"With the wonders of Twitter you can re-tweet and things just go viral," he said. "But I should mention this and this is really important ... there were a lot of positive messages and I've had an overflow - and I'm sure Gurdeep does too - of positive messages on Twitter and I've been getting them all day."

Gurdeep, a reporter and anchor for both TSN SportsCentre and Toronto's CP24 news channel, began his career in production positions with TSN, The Score and The Hockey News. In 2009, he was named "Favourite TV Personality" at the Masala! Mehndi! Masti's People's Choice Awards. He was also named to the National Post's Worthy 30 list in 2012.

"The way it sort of changed throughout the day was sort of switching over from negative to positive," he said. "And in a way Twitter polices itself, and a lot of people took it upon themselves to jump on the folks who said something negative or racist and correct it that way. There were certainly a lot of good messages and support out there."

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[Sergei Berezin]

Was thoroughly disgusted and disappointed with some of the tweets.


Gotta wonder how some kids are raised.

 

[Sokil]

 

[hockeywiz542]

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...portscentre-backlash-appalling-134034332.html

Gurdeep Ahluwalia and Nabil Karim hosted Sportscentre — and the backlash was appalling

By Neate Sager | Eh Game

Anyone old enough to read this is too old to need a reminder about the evils of racism. It's just disappointing, if not surprising, when this happens.

Tuesday's late-night TSN Sportscentre was hosted by Gurdeep Ahluwalia and Nabil Karim. There was a backlash on Twitter in 2012 when Ahluwalia and Karim, who are both brown men, debuted with the network. Tuesday was just as bad for comments that, rather than put a damning label on people, should just be called dumb.

One has to wonder where people are coming from when they cannot handle having two brown men narrating sports highlights. One can understand a disappointed reaction upon tuning in and not seeing the familiar faces of funnymen Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole at the anchor desk. But how does it go from that to this?

 

[Leafidelity]

Isn't this more NHL news than Toronto news?

 

[Dirty Dan]

Those are my boys up there. I knew there would be some racism though, like Evander Kane scoring on a southern US team

 

[pooleboy]

now i dont want to sound racist (and i hope i dont come off as that because im not trying to be and im not racist)and i have no idea what was said (but i can imagine)

but if people said the same thing about white anchors no one would care. once that happens (no one caring what is said on twitter) racism will stop, the problem is people are being offended and people need to just shrug it off because there are stupd people out there. imo this thread is more or lessthe bigger problem, people just need to shrug it off and just say "idiots" (i want to add im a white male) and get back to life instead of worry about idiots on the internet.

 

[Leafblooded]

Everyone Is way too politically correct. Of course they're gonna get made fun of, people are used to seeing white anchors on sportscenter and need to deal with the change by being funny. The poignant thing is that when they're on air together, the racial awkwardness is visible as tension between the two. They're making the "taking over" jokes themselves backstage, I'm sure.

 

[excape]

now i dont want to sound racist (and i hope i dont come off as that because im not trying to be and im not racist)and i have no idea what was said (but i can imagine)

but if people said the same thing about white anchors no one would care. once that happens (no one caring what is said on twitter) racism will stop, the problem is people are being offended and people need to just shrug it off because there are stupd people out there. imo this thread is more or lessthe bigger problem, people just need to shrug it off and just say "idiots" (i want to add im a white male) and get back to life instead of worry about idiots on the internet.

No one would care because it doesn't happen. When you see two white anchors (or at least one white anchor), it just seems 'normal' so there's really nothing to say. Bring out two people that aren't white males and people notice. If there were two women anchors, there would be sexist comments instead of racial ones.

Racism will not stop if you ignore it (I personally doubt it will ever stop). But, ignoring it definitely won't make it stop. The best defense against it is educating people. Trust me, when racist comments like that are targeted toward you or people of the same ethnicity, it's not exactly easy to ignore and shrug off. It's hard to 'get back to life' when that is a part of your life. It can take a mental toll.

 

[trobby]

Welcome to the internet where everyone's a tough guy.

They did a great job. Haters gonna hate.

 

[Pilky01]

This was just another example of the rampant, underlying racism among Canadians and hockey fans in particular. And the fact that there are people here arguing that "if we ignore it, it will go away" is just further proof of how deep some people have their heads buried in the sand. "We can't be racist. Canada never had slavery. Underground Railroad, etc..."

This kind of thing is exactly what Evander Kane was talking about when he says some of his criticism is race motivated. And of course, what happened when he said that? The "I'm not racist, I have black friends" brigade jumps all over him for speaking the truth. And just like in this thread, what happens when these anchors call out very specific examples of racism? We get ignorant (white) people telling them they should just keep quiet and ignore it.



And I fully expect this post to be deleted and to receive an infraction for speaking bluntly against the hockey zeitgeist.

 

[stamkos]

So now TSN, will never get rid of them, no matter how bad they are...great!

 

[Vexed]

Everyone Is way too politically correct. Of course they're gonna get made fun of, people are used to seeing white anchors on sportscenter and need to deal with the change by being funny. The poignant thing is that when they're on air together, the racial awkwardness is visible as tension between the two. They're making the "taking over" jokes themselves backstage, I'm sure.

No

Its not funny

 

[Leafidelity]

This was just another example of the rampant, underlying racism among Canadians and hockey fans in particular. And the fact that there are people here arguing that "if we ignore it, it will go away" is just further proof of how deep some people have their heads buried in the sand. "We can't be racist. Canada never had slavery. Underground Railroad, etc..."

This kind of thing is exactly what Evander Kane was talking about when he says some of his criticism is race motivated. And of course, what happened when he said that? The "I'm not racist, I have black friends" brigade jumps all over him for speaking the truth. And just like in this thread, what happens when these anchors call out very specific examples of racism? We get ignorant (white) people telling them they should just keep quiet and ignore it.



And I fully expect this post to be deleted and to receive an infraction for speaking bluntly against the hockey zeitgeist.

I'm going to let you in on a secret - there has always been and will always be racism. All races have prejudice, not just white people so lets get off that train. Frankly, you just assuming the people who commented were white is racist. People need to stop being so sensitive and just call a twitter idiot an idiot and move on - it's 2013. I'm sure Gurdeep and Nabil have.

 

[Bravid Nonahan]

Russel Peters makes a living on being racist and he isn't white.

 

[DaveT83*]

This

 

[sangreale]

Enough racism on this board I see.

 

[Joey Hoser]

This was just another example of the rampant, underlying racism among Canadians and hockey fans in particular.

Why does a couple trolls acting like ********** justify you calling Canadians racist?

Call these guys out if you wish but leave the rest of us out of it. This is totally uncalled for and just as absurd and offensive as the racism.

 

[Dwight K Schrute]

now i dont want to sound racist (and i hope i dont come off as that because im not trying to be and im not racist)and i have no idea what was said (but i can imagine)

but if people said the same thing about white anchors no one would care. once that happens (no one caring what is said on twitter) racism will stop, the problem is people are being offended and people need to just shrug it off because there are stupd people out there. imo this thread is more or lessthe bigger problem, people just need to shrug it off and just say "idiots" (i want to add im a white male) and get back to life instead of worry about idiots on the internet.

Just a warning. I would refrain from making that argument in public because it is a racist point of view. I am sure what you are saying is good intentioned but it is an ignorant thing to say. Of course nobody is going to say something about two white anchors. Those white anchors had every advantage stacked in their favour trying to break into this industry being a caucasian male. Ignoring this societal problem will simply breed more and more racist people. There is a reason that the root word of ignorant is ignore.

 

[The Apologist]

No one would care because it doesn't happen. When you see two white anchors (or at least one white anchor), it just seems 'normal' so there's really nothing to say. Bring out two people that aren't white males and people notice. If there were two women anchors, there would be sexist comments instead of racial ones.

Racism will not stop if you ignore it (I personally doubt it will ever stop). But, ignoring it definitely won't make it stop. The best defense against it is educating people. Trust me, when racist comments like that are targeted toward you or people of the same ethnicity, it's not exactly easy to ignore and shrug off. It's hard to 'get back to life' when that is a part of your life. It can take a mental toll.

If you think prejudism doesn't happen to white males, you're kidding yourself.

 

[The Apologist]

Just a warning. I would refrain from making that argument in public because it is a racist point of view. I am sure what you are saying is good intentioned but it is an ignorant thing to say. Of course nobody is going to say something about two white anchors. Those white anchors had every advantage stacked in their favour trying to break into this industry being a caucasian male. Ignoring this societal problem will simply breed more and more racist people. There is a reason that the root word of ignorant is ignore.

Again, your comment itself is racist. Caucasians receive more than their fair share of racism. In fact even the government legally discriminates against them.

In the past, I might agree with you. In today's world, Caucasian males have significant odds stacked against them.

 

[Warden of the North]

We're moving beyond the realm of sports. Closed