The International Skating Union (ISU) was forced to issue an apology and suspend two commentators from its international signal at last week’s world championships after the commentators were heard making derogatory remarks about former Canadian figure skater Meagan Duhamel on an open microphone.
Duhamel, who has worked as a coach and analyst since her retirement from the sport in 2018, had been critical on Twitter of the commentary duo Simon Reed and Nicky Slater.
She took issue with the commentators lamenting the lack of Russian participation at the world championships following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, and an alleged admission by the commentary duo they didn’t watch figure skating often and thus were unable to count the number of rotations during jumps performed at the event.
A tweet posted by Duhamel on Wednesday concluded, “there are better options ISU!”
Later that day, following the pair’s short program, an open microphone picked up an exchange between Reed and Slater appearing to center on Duhamel. The pair never mentioned her by name, but many viewers discerned the comments were in reference to her.
Towards the end of the exchange, Reed referred to Duhamel as “the b---h from Canada.” The open microphone picked up both commentators laughing at the comment.
The ISU issued a statement on Twitter the following day apologizing for the “disrespectful comment,” condemning “any statements of a discriminatory or prejudicial nature.” The statement continued, “there is no place for harassing and abusive language or remarks and behavior in sport and our society.”
Both commentators were removed from the international signal for the remaining duration of the world championships by the ISU, with the skating body stating an internal investigation would take place.
Duhamel later stated she had received personal apologies from Reed and ISU President Jan Dijkema.
The commentary scandal is the latest off-ice drama to cast a shadow over the winter sport following the appointment of a previously suspended judge to a post at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and a high profile doping scandal that cast doubt over the competition held in Beijing.
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