Captain Smart ‘clarifies’ sexist comments against female sports journalists

Godsbrain Captain Smart, the host of Onua FM’s breakfast show has provided clarification to his heavily criticised comments deemed to be misogynistic.

Captain Smart incurred the wrath of the Ghana Journalist Association, the Sports Writers Association of Ghana and other journalistic organizations with his ‘advise’ to the Ghana Football Association not to grant ‘female presenters’ access to the Black Stars.

The GJA in a statement condemned the statement describing his words as sexist and unprofessional.

“Indeed, we find the comments by Captain Smart sorely sexist, utterly unprofessional, grossly reprehensible, highly repugnant and extremely offensive to ethical and professional standards. Article 6 of the GJA Code of Ethics 2017 provides that “A journalist recognizes the public’s right to fair, unbiased, accurate, balanced and comprehensive information,” GJA stated.

It added that, “Also, Article 2(a) of the National Media Commission (NMC) Broadcasting Guidelines provides that “Information given in any programme, should be presented accurately, honestly and impartially”, while Article 5(c) provides that “Statements or information that could be ambiguous or misleading should be avoided.”

But in his first reaction to the barrage of criticism, Captain Smart offered some justification for his words, implying that he has been misunderstood.

According to him, the statement was targeted at female TV presenters and not female sports presenters.

He however apologized to all those he reckoned had been hurt by his earlier comments.

“I’ve seen a lot of write ups from the public. The other day I said the GFA should stop female TV presenters from following the team – Black Stars.

"I’m a reasonable being so I chose my words right. I didn’t say female TV sports presenters. Listen to me well, I said female TV presenters. There are a lot of female presenters on YouTube and we have the traditional presenters as well. I chose my words well.

“I don’t know why the female TV sports presenters have taken this as a World Cup (too seriously). Did I say sports presenters? I didn’t say that. But because of the respect I have for women, if you’re a female sports presenter and you think you were hurt, sorry,” he said as quoted by onuaonline.

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