Seven’s Olympic coverage has attracted further criticism after a commentator was accused of being ‘racist’ for saying ‘all Chinese competitors look the same’.
Former Australian Olympian Jacqui Cooper was commentating the first stages of the women’s aerials at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Thursday evening when she was speaking about the Chinese skiiers.
‘Very Chinese,’ Cooper said of Yan Ting’s first jump.
‘They all look the same, they’re very hard to tell who’s who.’
Seven’s Olympic coverage has attracted further criticism after commentator Jacqui Cooper (pictured) was accused of being ‘racist’ for saying ‘all Chinese competitors look the same’
‘Very Chinese,’ Cooper said of Yan Ting’s first jump. ‘They all look the same, they’re very hard to tell who’s who’
Cooper’s comments were immediately slammed on social media, with many stunned by what they had heard
‘Jacqui Cooper with the casual racism whilst commentating on #7Olympics,’ another person tweeted
Cooper’s comments were immediately slammed on social media, with many stunned by what they had heard.
‘Did Jacqui Cooper really just say that all the Chinese athletes look the same? #7Olympics’ one shocked viewer asked.
‘Jacqui Cooper with the casual racism whilst commentating on #7Olympics,’ another person tweeted.
‘Jacqui Cooper, I love you. But saying that the Chinese aerial skiers “look the same” is kinda racist. #7Olympics isn’t doing well at all,’ said another Twitter user, referencing the heavy criticism the network has endured for their coverage.
Channel Seven issued a statement through their social media accounts on Thursday night explaining Cooper was specifically discussing the Chinese style of aerials and not their physical appearance.
‘During tonight’s cover of the women’s aerials, commentator Jacqui Cooper a former Olympian and World Champion – noted than an aerial manouevre was in a technical and style sense, very Chinese,’ Seven said.
‘Meaning that the whole of the Chinese aerial team are trained in the same way – and the manouevre referenced was a classic technically perfect, trademark of that team’s style.
‘At no time was the commentary racist, intended to be racist or offensive.’
Cooper’s comments were immediately slammed on social media, with many stunned by what they had heard
Cooper represented Australia at the 2006 Olympics and was favourite for gold but fell on both her opening attempts
The Winter Olympics have not run smoothly for Network Seven, who have struggled with coordinating their broadcasts and often showing replays instead of live medal events.
Olympic fans took to social media on Wednesday night to vent their fury, labelling the network’s coverage as ‘utterly pathetic’.
Seven defended their coverage on Thursday, stressing the importance of replaying the day’s action to people stuck at work during the day, and pointing to their app’s eight live streams for those looking for more variety.
Fans’ rage came after Scotty James’ bronze medal in the halfpipe was replayed multiple times during prime time, despite gold medal events – such as the women’s 1000m speed skating final – being on at the time.
Channel 7’s Winter Olympic coverage was blasted once again on Wednesday night by irate viewers after the network showed replays instead of live medal events. Pictured: Channel 7’s Hamish McLachlan and Edwina Bartholomew with snowboarder Scotty James
Olympic fans took to social media, labelling the network’s coverage as ‘utterly pathetic’
Their rage came after Scotty James’ bronze medal in the halfpipe (pictured) was replayed multiple times during prime time
‘Do everybody a favour @Channel7 and never bid on the Olympics again. Your coverage is utterly pathetic. No wonder free to air TV is dying,’ one viewer posted to Twitter.
Another wrote: ‘I’m halfpipe replayed out; bye bye #7Olympics I’m going elsewhere; isn’t 5-6 times in one day enough?’
The final straw for many viewers came shortly after 9pm, when the speed skating final was being broadcast before it was interrupted by host Hamish McLachlan.
McLachlan went on to tell viewers what was ahead on the program, which included returning to the skating final before showing men’s doubles luge.
One viewer said they would be changing the channel after the halfpipe event was replayed again
Gold medal events – such as the women’s 1000m speed skating final – were being played out when the replay began
Some viewers said they felt betrayed when the halfpipe final was replayed instead of the live speed skating event
Some viewers then felt betrayed when coverage switched to the halfpipe final, which had only been replayed moments ago.
‘There is a movie on Seven Mate as we speak and replays on Seven. No speed skating as promised. #nothing live,’ one person wrote.
Another wrote: ‘This is the third time you have shown the same event – bl***y hell #7Olympics.’
Other viewers took exception to the network’s head-to-head comparison between Scotty James and gold medallist Shaun White.
Instead of showing their physical statistics or recent form, it compared how many Instagram and Facebook followers the pair had.
‘Tip: no one cares how many followers on social media the athletes have,’ one person wrote.
‘That’s the most useless stat I’ve seen,’ wrote another.
Another wrote: ‘This is the third time you have shown the same event – bl***y hell #7Olympics’
Other viewers took exception to the network’s head-to-head comparison between Scotty James (right) and gold medallist Shaun White (centre), which showed how many social media followers they have
The criticism comes after viewers expressed their frustrations with the over-the-top commentary from the team at Channel 7 (pictured)
Daily Mail Australia has contact Channel 7 for comment.
The criticism comes after viewers expressed their frustrations with the endless conversation between Basil Zempilas and Edwina Bartholomew during the opening ceremony on Friday night.
‘Seven’s Olympics could not be worse at hosting the games on TV. Get rid of them,’ one man said on social media on the weekend.
Others took offence to references to other countries, with commentators describing Sweden, a strong nation in winter sports, as the birthplace of the pop band ABBA.
During the opening ceremony on Friday, they also described Madagascar as the inspiration to two children’s movies.
‘Yep because we wanted commentary over the top of this. Can you not talk for five minutes?’ one person shared online.
‘Please shut the commentators up and let the event tell the story. We just listened to an explanation of bells instead of hearing the damn things,’ another wrote.
The criticism comes after viewers expressed their frustrations with the endless conversation between the Channel 7 team (pictured) during the opening ceremony on Friday night
‘Seven’s Olympics could not be worse at hosting the games on TV. Get rid of them,’ one man said on social media on the weekend
One man criticised the team for talking too much through the opening ceremony on Friday, and Bartholomew responded in just minutes.
‘I’m sorry you thought that, John. We tried to keep our commentary to an absolute minimum to try and explain the messages behind the performance,’ she wrote.
Bartholomew was quick to acknowledge she had a cold and told the viewer it was a ‘shame you could hear it’.
While the presenter remained humble despite the sometimes harsh criticism on social media, cracks appeared to show when she was asked if she was reading the comments and passing them on.
One man criticised the team for talking too much, and Bartholomew (pictured) responded: ‘I’m sorry you thought that, John. We tried to keep our commentary to an absolute minimum to try and explain the messages behind the performance.’
Another was outraged commentator Basil Zempilas could not think of anything better to say about Madagascar
‘Do you mean me, David? Yes,’ she said.
‘Not enough live sport and too many replays. That is why they set up the app so everyone is happy. Do you have it?’
Despite the backlash online, more viewers than ever are tuning into the Olympics, a spokesperson from Channel Seven told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
Day five of the Olympics reached 4.5 million broadcast viewers and 7.8 million live streaming minutes viewed.
The halfpipe event peaked at 793,000 broadcast viewers during the day, and received a further 2.6 million streaming minutes.
A total of 10.7 million broadcast viewers have been reached since the opening ceremony on Friday.