AB is not a sexist, or at least I don't think I am. How could I be sexist? Some of my best friends are women! (Sarcasm alert!) So although I have my opinions about whether or not this story from The Land Down Under is offensive or not, I'd rather hear what you guys, especially the ladies, have to say instead.
Tennis commentator Roger Rasheed was the butt of both criticism and support following his saucy delight in Venus Williams' posterior during Channel 7's live Australian Open coverage. Tennis fans voiced a volley of views on the former coach's decision to show slow-motion replay shots of the four-time Wimbledon champion's posterior in play on Tuesday night.Question: Were Roger Rasheed's comments merely poorly conceived space filler or an affront to Venus' womanhood? Ladies, if you were Venus, would you be offended by this? Fellas, what do you think?
Williams, the world No.8, was wearing figure-hugging white shorts when she played China's Zi Yan in Rod Laver Arena.
"Take a look at this now," Rasheed said. "Make or think as you will, ladies, but, for me, that's a pretty good sight," he told co-presenters Nicole Bradtke and Tracy Austin.
A Seven spokeswoman confirmed the station had received a number of complaints after the comments and slow-motion replay were aired.
"We did get a number of calls, but we don't ever comment publicly on those," she said. "We had 30 calls in total on a night we attracted a national viewing audience of 3.89 million," she said.
If you wanna match the visuals with the story, here ya' go. Knock yourself out.
Venus Williams booty call stirs up viewers [Sydney Herald Sun]
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There is nothing wrong with what was said but using slow motion is something else. Because butts are in now more of our lighter bro and sister are taking notes.
The anchor simply had no class, I'll leave it at that. The slow motion was definitely overkill. Soft porn meets the Australia Open.
Typical male pig, just in plain sight and bad taste. The comments could be appreciated by the average sister who takes pride in her junk (especially an athletic trunk), but the slow motion close-up was SO unnecessurily extra. The uncomfortable laughter from the TWO (dude has some cajones on him) women co-anchors was the true testament that men should keep their locker room/bar/watchin sports on the sofa banter between the pigs that can appreciate such slop. GO VENUS & SERENA!!!!!!
P.S. I wonder if he would've said the same thing about Serena's bodacious bootay?
Men that start sentences with "I'm not sexist," usually are, just as white people who start sentences with "I'm not racist" usually are.
To me, Venus is a professional athlete - she does not need to be reduced to a sexual object on the auction block. His comments were extremely inappropriate. I suppose it is natural for men to notice these things, but he should have kept his comments and thoughts in a private forum. The slow motion display was disgusting. Any woman who thinks this is a compliment is fooling herself. If professional sports commentators made similar comments on national t.v. regarding a white female athlete's body or a black male athlete's butt or nether region complete with slo-mo displays, everyone would be up in arms. But somehow it is considered acceptable to degrade black women this way.
It's inappropriate to focus on her movements in slow motion; and to make public comments. As much as I watch football (Go Pats!) I would love to see some slow motion moves of the 'guys' in tight pants...(highlighting their ass or their 'protected package')- Instead I have to see slow motion clips of missed field goals; interceptions; touchdowns...etc., in a man's world people are interested in the 'sport' not the athletic body parts! But, it is what it is.
I don't think his comments were inappropriate, just not controlled in the right way.
I loves me a big ole' booty any day of the week. Just kidding!
I'm less offended by Rasheed's comments than I am by the ones from the "man-on-the-street" interviews. I'm not sure how asking people if Rasheed was out of line morphed into pointing fingers at Venus' game attire. It isn't like tennis players are known for their modest clothing. Never heard anyone say that Anna Kournikova needed to cover the hell up.
All that aside, his comments seemed par for the course(ha! pun!) to me. A little extra, but whatevs.
I don't find anything wrong with admiring the physical beauty of a woman. In fact that's what straight men do. I'm married, and my wife has a lovely shape. When you see beauty, you're supposed to call it as you see it. I find it a breath of fresh air, that a black female can be ogled just as much as a white female often is. Venus wore that that outfit not only to play tennis in, but to be noticed physically as well. If some women are offended, that's fine. Just don't be a hyprocrite and walk out of the house with your breasts out and served up like tomatoes. We will notice and say something.
Ive noticed a trend in amerikka blame the victim on every news story. blame Venus for the short shorts, no the commentor should have some class. Where can someone work and comment on the next employee's or customer's body?
Ebonygentleman, you get cussed out a lot, don't you?
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