An American commentator has sparked outrage on social media after saying veteran tennis player Venus Williams "put the gorilla effect" on during her second round match.
ESPN's Doug Adler came under fire over the remark during Williams' match against Swiss Stefanie Voegele at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
"She misses a first serve and Venus is all over her," Adler said.
"You see Venus move in and put the gorilla effect on. Charging."
Adler made the comment as Williams stepped over the baseline ahead of her opponent's serve.
"She puts the Gorilla effect on. Charging". Just wtf. This is not cool @ESPNTennis @espn pic.twitter.com/L46Bwf6sEh
— Shanna 🍍 (@PinaCocoblog) January 18, 2017
Tennis fans condemned the commentator on social media.
New York Times writer Ben Rothenberg tweeted: "This is some appalling stuff. Horrifying that the Williams sisters remain subjected to it still in 2017."
And this is why it's so problematic. Innocent mistake or not, there has to be way, way more awareness and sensitivity. pic.twitter.com/mqT5MjMI0D
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 19, 2017
Tomorrow is Obama's last day as POTUS and Venus Williams was just called a gorilla by an ESPN commentator. I am ****ing done.
— Katelin (@cummingsgoings) January 19, 2017
Has Doug Adler been fired yet? It's time, ESPN.
— J🎾NATHAN (@jokelley_tennis) January 19, 2017
Did the commentator on #espn just say #VenusWilliams is like a "gorilla charging" #AustralianOpen Please tell me I heard that wrong.
— Ms. Mit (@msmitmi) January 18, 2017
"She puts the Gorilla effect on. Charging". Just wtf. This is not cool @ESPNTennis @espn pic.twitter.com/L46Bwf6sEh
— Shanna 🍍 (@PinaCocoblog) January 18, 2017
Not good enough @ESPNTennis @espn with Doug Adler. He continually made animalistic remarks regarding Venus which is horrible
— Josh H (@JoshHo8) January 19, 2017
Really? This doesn't even makes sense in addition to being ridiculously racist. But by all means, let's keep Doug Adler around, @ESPNTennis https://t.co/AtIIiHuEyO
— Naf (@TWA_tennis_blog) January 19, 2017
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