Net users are far from satisfied with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) autoreply-like apology for its swimming commentator's abusive remarks about a 14-year-old Chinese Olympic swimmer on Thursday.
Both Chinese and Canadian Net users were enraged at CBC commentator Byron MacDonald for saying that Ai Yanhan, a Chinese athlete in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay in Rio, "died like a pig."
"That little 14 year old girl from China dropped the ball, baby," MacDonald said. He continued with his mean-spirited sarcasm against the swimmer, saying she was "too excited, went out like stink and died like a pig …"
CBC apologized to Twitter users soon after. "We apologize the comment on a swim performance made it to air. It was an unfortunate choice of words - we're sorry it happened."
"Ur apology makes me sick," wrote a Canadian Twitter user, one of hundreds who protested against a lack of sincerity in the CBC's response.
"#Byron MacDonald# should be dismissed and @CBC Olympics stop use ctrl C + ctrl V, we need a real apology," wrote a Chinese Twitter user, calling MacDonald's comments "racist and insulting."
Nearly 200 similar comments had been posted on the CBC's official Facebook page as of press time. Many demanded that CBC make a formal, sincere apology and said MacDonald should pay for his terrible "choice of words."
After the footage went viral online, over 2,300 social media users on China's Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, also demanded that MacDonald be dismissed immediately, even if he personally offers an apology.
The U.S. claimed the gold medal in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay on Thursday ahead of Australia and Canada, who won silver and bronze, respectively. The Chinese team took fourth.
