Inverdale - Should He Stay Or Go?

[flipnflap]

Do you think John Inverdale should lose his job over his remark about Marion Bartoli not being "a looker"?

[ELVIS68]

No but that's not the point, it's unprofessional of him, and Jan I think he was making a personal opinion

[Hopkirk]

Hardly a throw away comment Jemisa:

"I just wonder if her dad, because he has obviously been the most influential person in her life, did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14 maybe, 'Listen, you are never going to be, you know, a looker.

"'You are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you're never going to be 5ft 11, you're never going to be somebody with long legs, so you have to compensate for that.

"'You are going to have to be the most dogged, determined fighter that anyone has ever seen on the tennis court if you are going to make it,' and she kind of is."

[Jan1957]

I suppose so Elvis but he wasn't saying anything that a lot of people were thinking and he did sound like he was praising her for how well she has done. I just don't think he should lose his job for a remark that he didn't mean any malice by saying.

[Hopkirk]

BBC presenters should not be making such derogatory remarks about someone's appearance.

We can't just laugh this off as inconsequential. It was unacceptable.

[Jeza]

Do you remember President Reagan saying something like 'in 5 minutes we will bomb the commie bastards'. His microphone was open and he said he didn't know. Should he have been impeached? They were both attempting joking remarks. So it wasn't funny.......Well Reagans was.

[jno]

blimey, dotty, who's the looker in your avatar?

[craft1948]

No Inverdale shouldn't lose his job because of the Bartoli comment, he should lose his job because he is absolutely crap.

[weecalf]

All television announcers ,presenters or what ever they are should be replaced every 6 to eight weeks ..100 years of some of them I ask you some 50 years it seems like it anyway .No six weeks should be enough for most of them anyway the gooder ones get an extra two weeks

[Jeza]

Well said craft.

Weecalf...gooder what sort of word is that :)

[weecalf]

same as badder only gooder

[craft1948]

Jeza I absolutely cringe when Inverdale is spouting forth, I don't know who ever thought he was a good sports commentator.....he isn't.

[Jeza]

lol

[Jeza]

He probably has connections in high places Craft as a lot of them have.

[Mattk]

He expressed his point with poorly chosen words.

The point he was trying to make was that she isn't tall, she isn't athletic but does make the most of what she does have (from a tennis point of view).

[craft1948]

Sorry matt I'm defo not very PC but he was being very sexist. (I do agree she is quite unfortunate looking but I'm not a BBC employee)

[jno]

I disagree, Mattk, the point he was trying to make was that she wasn't as sexy as Sharapova (etc). He's hired to comment on Wimbledon, not on a beauty contest.

[Mattk]

Its a matter of interpretation but assuming Hopkirk's transcript is accurate I see it as a comment on her physical attributes and how best to employ them to be successful. As I say with his words could have been better chosen.

In the modern game women are tall with big serves and she has neither but is a scrapper.

[ELVIS68]

He was making his own assumption as to what her father would've said to her

Basically saying she was ugly

[Cloverjo]

Why did he put those words in her father's mouth? There is no way he (her father) would even have hinted at something like that to her. As he said afterwards,"She's my beautiful daughter."
I thought it was bad of the journalists at press conferences referring to it for days afterwards.
Also, how is being a scrapper going to help anyone beat a supposedly prettier player?

[youngmafbog]

No, sheer nonsense.