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Lucy Zelic

Lucy Zelić Red Cards The Football "Fans" Harassing Her For Daring To Know Things In Public

The online abuse of the SBS football commentator for "overpronouncing" shows that some people will always find an excuse to target a woman in highly visible public role – even if that means criticising her for doing her job too well.

Television personalities are used to copping online criticism, but one group often feels the fury far more than any other. Female presenters, across the world in general but in Australia especially, are constantly battling the disdain and negativity of an audience that would perhaps prefer they didn’t exist, except as decoration.

These women experience an extraordinary level of abuse online, often for the most mundane reasons imaginable, and with little cause to fight back besides… well, just continuing to do their jobs.

Lucy Zelić, the SBS’s World Cup host and an accomplished soccer commentator, is the latest in a long line of women to bear the brunt of an audience looking for a public target on whom to heap their hatred. During this morning’s World Cup coverage, Zelić and co-host Craig Foster shared an emotional moment discussing the sustained abuse Zelić has received for correctly pronouncing the names of international players.

Zelić, who has been a long-time target for sexist trolls online, has recently received a barrage of criticism for “over-enunciating” players’ names, which some viewers have called “insufferable”, “annoying” and “overkill”.

Foster, who brought up the criticism Zelić had received, told audiences this morning: “Firstly, that’s what SBS is about. SBS is about respecting every single culture… If you can’t get someone’s name right, it shows that, well, you’ve got no regard.”

“It’s not only proper, but it’s actually important for Australia,” Foster said to Zelić. “Having linguistic skills, being multilingual, is something you should be very proud of. It adds a lot to our coverage and it’s very important.”

As Foster pointed out, when he pronounces a player’s name incorrectly, that is not a badge of honour – it’s a mistake. He has done his job poorly.

He also noted that correct pronunciation of players’ names was a legacy left by iconic SBS host Les Murray, who was “always so specific on his pronunciations”.

“Well, thank you, Fos,” Zelić replied. She explained to the audience that she was proud to be carrying on Murray’s legacy, and that “this is why we do what we do at SBS”.

“It’s always been about servicing the minority and about respecting the cultures we have in Australia.”

Since Zelić and Foster have spoken out about the abuse, many have come to Zelić’s defence online, pointing out that someone doing their job correctly is not “insufferable”.

“Almost don’t want to waste energy talking about people who are hating on @LucyZelic for being good at what she does,” wrote one Twitter user. “Almost. Long may she continue to pronounce properly and present like a champ.”

“Lucy Zelić copping it for name pronunciation is some classic Australian tall poppy syndrome bullshit,” wrote another.

Australians do have a long, proud history of cutting down those elevated in society by their own exceptional skills.

But the disdain for Zelić’s accomplished presenting during this World Cup feels a lot like another favourite national pastime: sexism.

Zelić, who is a former Miss Universe finalist and holds a bachelor’s degree in sports journalism, has faced criticism for her work since joining SBS as a soccer commentator in 2013. So-called “fans” of the game, and of SBS’s coverage, called Zelić an “ugly bimbo” and a “stupid f@#king sl#t”, who only got her job because she “slept with someone” or because of “nepotism” (her brother, footballer Ned Zelić, also worked at the broadcaster).

In an op-ed for SBS online, she wrote that beyond the “grass and glamour”, the brutal abuse she received had her lying “on the bathroom floor in the foetal position crying for hours because I just couldn’t take it anymore”. Zelić admitted “the daily tirade of abuse turned me into a complete wreck” and that she considered quitting.

Instead, Zelić forged ahead, tightened her social media safety nets, and developed a “thicker skin” for the sledging and abuse hurled at her by viewers.

Now, in 2018, the criticism has taken on a sinister surface-level sheen of “legitimacy”. These fans are ostensibly unhappy with Zelić’s performance as a commentator – it’s not at all about the fact that she’s an attractive, accomplished woman who dares to front our TV screens for male-centred sports coverage.

https://twitter.com/realkvp/status/1010082649602342912

Except, of course, there’s nothing wrong with Zelić’s commentating; in fact, she’s doing her job exactly right.

 

The disdain for Zelić’s work recalls the consistent attacks on commentators like Leigh Sales, Dr Julia Baird and Emma Alberici, all of whom have been horrifically abused by a cruel and sexist public, sooky politicians and oppositional media online.

All three journalists have not been shy about sharing the abuse they regularly receive, all of it bizarre, cruel and unquestionably misogynist. Sales has spoken out frequently about the abuse she receives during high-profile political events, such as federal elections, popular interviews on 7.30 and large-scale debates like the 2017 postal survey.

And Alberici has frequently had to prove the credentials of her economic journalism when it’s been called into question by sexist male critics – something male journos are rarely called on to do.

It’s evident being a woman with a platform, particularly in a male-dominated area such as sport, politics or economics, is a risk in Australia. Lucky for us that women like Zelić, Sales, Baird and Alberici forge ahead despite the abuse, in order to ensure it’s not only men’s perspectives represented on our screens. (And remember that this is just what white and white-presenting women endure – women of colour have even worse in their mentions and inboxes.)

It’s desperately unfair that these presenters, dedicated to their roles and accomplished at what they do, should face so much scrutiny simply because of their gender, not their performance. And yet, this is the world.

Zelić cops it for correct pronunciation when Murray was lauded for the very same practice – and co-host Foster doesn’t receive any of the same criticism when he struggles to pronounce players’ names correctly, as is SBS’s on-air practice.

So it’s up to anyone who values women’s perspective and expertise to point out this double standard and remind so-called “fans”, and the public in general, that disproportionately targeting female presenters for abuse lazily re-framed as “criticism” is absolutely not on.

And the way to start is to set an example, as Foster did this morning, by calling it out, in public, for everyone to hear.