ITV ‘censored' Martina Navratilova for claiming boxer Imane Khelif was male
ITV has been accused of 'censoring' Martina Navratilova for stating a controversial boxer was male.
Dozens of other comments were also 'hidden' from the broadcaster's X feed after it posted a story about Imane Khelif, the boxer who won a gold medal after being allowed to compete in the women's event at last year's Olympic Games.
Earlier this week, Khelif was banned from women's boxing by the regulator, World Boxing. A leaked blood test showed the Olympian has male XY chromosomes.
ITV later published a story headlined 'Naming Imane Khelif has caused 'immeasurable psychological damage'' after the Algerian Boxing Federation complained about World Boxing's decision to name the boxer.
Ms Navratilova, the nine-time Wimbledon singles champion who has campaigned for gay rights, commented: 'But a male beating the crap out of women is not too bad, apparently.'
This comment was hidden by the broadcaster and reinstated only after users complained.
Dozens of other comments remain hidden, even though many of them simply state that the boxer is male.
Credit: ITV
Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at the women's rights charity Sex Matters, demanded an apology from ITV.
She said: 'It's shocking that the UK's largest commercial broadcast network has censored hundreds of gender-critical comments on social media, many of them simply referring to Imane Khelif as male.
'Hiding a simple truth about a major news story is a remarkable failure by a journalistic organisation.
'It's scandalous that ITV hid a reply from tennis legend Martina Navratilova, which they reinstated after an outcry. But what of the hundreds of other replies that remain censored, some of which do nothing but quote JK Rowling about the boxing row?
'ITV cannot simply dismiss this as a social media storm. Unless ITV's leadership apologises for hiding factual comments from the public, it will damage its credibility as a respected news organisation.'
Khelif won a gold medal at last year's Paris Olympics after being allowed to compete in the women's event even though the boxer had previously been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships when tests indicated the presence of male chromosomes.
Earlier this week, World Boxing banned Khelif from fighting against women in the Eindhoven World Cup, unless the champion underwent a sex test, which was refused.
Users of the social platform X can hide responses they do not like, meaning they do not automatically appear in people's feeds. But they cannot delete them, and followers can look at hidden responses if they choose.
Dozens of other commenters were hidden for stating that the boxer was male.
One, Hatkeshiator, said: 'It's hardly worse than pretending to be a chick so you can beat chicks up while they fear a ban if they complain. Get a grip.'
Kyle Reese, another X user, wrote: 'I think the damage his mentally-ill man inflicted on women was far greater.'
Florence Jeffries said: 'He punches women. What about the harm, physical and mental, suffered by them. He knows tests have shown him to have XY chromosomes.'
Another commenter with the username Spacedonkey wrote: 'ITV has proven that trans ideology is misogynistic. ITV literally wants to silence women and has hidden a post by sports icon Martina Navratilova. ITV, how low can you sink?'
Rebecca Marian said: 'Sending female boxers into the ring to box against a male could have resulted in life changing injuries or death for the women I frankly don't give a stuff for Khelif's 'psychological damage' He should never have been there.'
A commenter called Steve wrote: 'Keep hiding the replies – you're a disgrace. The women he cheated against matter so much more than his so-called fragile mental state.'
One was hidden for retweeting a comment by JK Rowling, who said: 'The media had all the evidence they needed, but chose to distort, obscure, and deflect because reality was politically inconvenient. They said Khelif was female. They were wrong. They said concerns were bigoted. They were wrong.'
An ITV source claimed they used an automated moderation system, adding: 'It was initially set to a very strict moderation threshold, but has now been adjusted to be less stringent.'
The broadcaster denied that comments had been selectively hidden.
ITV have been approached for comment.
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