Sky Sports has been forced to pull the plug on its controversial new TikTok channel, Halo, after it faced a fierce online backlash and accusations of sexism. The channel, which was explicitly targeted at female sports fans, lasted just three days before the broadcaster ceased all activity.
A Controversial Launch
Sky Sports Halo launched on Thursday, 14th November 2025, branded as the 'lil sis' of the main Sky Sports account. Its announcement post stated it was for "ALL sports and championing female athletes," claiming to be about "culture, community and connection."
However, the channel was met with immediate and widespread criticism. Viewers took issue with the patronising and sexist approach, pointing to the use of pink glowing text, its 'lil sis' moniker, and content filled with references to pop culture trends like matcha, 'hot girl walks,' and Labubu toys instead of substantive sports analysis.
The Backlash and Content Criticisms
The negative response was swift and unified across social media platforms. One particularly poorly received TikTok, titled "Explaining 2008 Crashgate in girl terms" and adorned with pink nail polish emojis, was cited as an example of the channel's condescending tone.
Another video used a clip of Manchester City's Erling Haaland scoring, captioned, "How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits." Critics argued this type of content was regressive and undermined progress in women's sports and gender equality.
Influential women's football platform Girls on the Ball, with 51,000 followers, criticised the branding and premise, questioning if the pink-heavy, stereotypical approach was what female fans actually wanted. A post on X garnering nearly 10,000 likes called it "one of the worst concepts I've ever seen" and "unbelievably sexist."
Climbdown and Apology
Faced with the overwhelming criticism, Sky Sports performed a rapid U-turn. On Saturday, 16th November, the broadcaster posted a statement on X, admitting they "didn't get it right."
The post read: "Our intention for Halo was to create a space alongside our existing channel for new, young, female fans. We've listened. We didn't get it right. As a result we're stopping all activity on this account."
This marked a stark contrast to the initial defence from Andy Gill, Sky's head of social media, who had earlier expressed pride in the female-driven project. The original launch post on Sky Sports' website has since been deleted, erasing the short-lived venture from their official channels.
