Channel 7 has publicly called upon Sportsbet to “stick to the odds” rather than generating memes at the expense of others after the betting company posted a “nasty” meme of network star Edwina Bartholomew.
On Monday, Sportsbet — whose social media accounts are characterised by their humour — posted an image of Bartholomew reporting from the Superbowl in the US.
Underneath the image, the company superimposed the sentence, “Aussie reporter on junket pretends to know about the NFL.”
The tweet was also accompanied by a quote that reads: “Everyone’s talking about Matt Brady of the Atlanta Patriots.”
The fictional quote played on the idea that Bartholomew would have little NFL knowledge and would therefore mix-up the names of the two star quarterbacks of both sides – the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan.
In response, Sunrise‘s executive producer Michael Pell responded to the meme on Twitter writing, “You know she didn’t say that. You’ve done this before. It’s not funny. It’s actually just nasty. Stick to doing the odds.”
Pell also told the Daily Telegraph he considered Sportsbet actions as “totally misleading” and “fake news”.
Bartholomew is yet to comment on the saga.
Top Comments
I'd hardly call it nasty. I think the joke was that most Australians don't really have a clue about NFL.
Yes yes. Jokes at the expense of women is not okay. They are the sacred cow's of the patriarchy don't you know.
You and the point are not close friends, are you?
A joke is funny. This is just having a go at someone who is trying to do their job.
At least Eddie can spell ...
Do you consider yourself qualified to say what everyone finds funny?