Good Riddance Reddy
Current Things, A Short Scroll
In an Instagram post announcing her exit from Sky Sports, after three years at the broadcaster, reporter Melissa Reddy stated: ‘Abuse as a foreign woman of colour in this sphere never ceases’. ‘I will always be stronger than the hate; I know who I am, I know the substance of my work.’ ‘After the first press conference I covered in England all those years back, a journalist turned to the press officer and said: ‘‘Why are you letting them come over here and take our jobs? You just want a little lick don’t you?’’’ Is Reddy the victim of bigotry?
Reddy is a South African national of South Asian descent. (As I recently noted, those who deride native complaints over the impact of overseas workers on the job market fail to confute the arguments of their opponents). If the comments she references in her Instagram post amount to a noteworthy experience of ‘hate’ in a years-long career, it is hardly indicative of unceasing abuse.
Reddy was out of place at Sky Sports. Her voice conspicuously set her apart from other reporters and not favourably. I struggled to identify her accent; there seems to be an affected American aspect and other elements. I never detected any South African influence. Her sound is not culturally specific. Without wanting to sound unkind, she has an often obtrusive, shrill and grating delivery. If someone has a job involving speaking, it follows that it is fair to appraise their speech. (Hear her for yourself on video below). Reddy’s rebarbative impact is a source of complaint among many viewers (maybe she sounds better when not on TV, I do not know).
Her unappealing sound aside, this piece will not assert that she is a talentless reporter. Reddy gained experience covering the English Premier League for ESPN and other outles before working for Sky. Even if you allow for a bit of diversity hiring here and there, it would seem that Reddy paid some dues.
Why did Sky choose her? This brings us back to the ‘taking our jobs’ remark, supposedly in keeping with the ‘hate’ Reddy experienced. The indignation of the journalist who commented may be justified. Sports journalism in this country is an extremely competitive field. In the absence of exceptional qualities to offset her discordance, it is not hard to account for any affront felt at the preferment of someone so at variance with the British footballing public and British journalists deserving of advancement. Surely, there was another candidate with equal or better knowledge of British football whose familiarity would enable the viewer to connect to them and the Sky Sports product.
While it might be unfair to call her a box ticker per se, she ticked a couple in conformity with a remorselessly woke corporate zeitgeist. Reddy’s foreignness probably supported her elevation. Her sound is congruent with the world that globalists want to impose. The British viewer cannot recognise Reddy as they can a Cockney, a Mancunian, a Liverpudlian or a Geordie. Her appointment was consistent with a paradigm that holds us all to be fungible ‘‘citizens of the world’’ who should accept constant encroachments on national culture and everything providing a sense of home.
Without offering a serious specific example, Reddy condemns the English sports industry as racist and misogynistic. That sphere is by all impressions liberal-left, and one would expect that any whiff of racism or sexism would lead to strong action and perhaps career cancellation. In 2004, Ron Atkinson lost his role as a commentator on ITV because of racial comments. Richard Keys and Andy Gray left Sky in 2011 following a sexism storm. These departures predate ‘‘woke’’ by many years, and society is far more attentive to these issues now. In today's climate, Sky, other companies, and even the police would meet with alacrity any claim of abuse involving their sacred ‘‘protected characteristics’’. The idea that Reddy is a suffering victim is hard to believe. The comment about job taking and sex, which Reddy thinks is a standout slur, did not involve any words directly spoken to her. If her account is truthful, it seems that Reddy was not meant to hear what was said. One might guess that she generally decides to construe any reference to her otherness as a form of ‘hate’. The concurrence of these claims with Sky ejecting her is telling.
Significantly, she did not name individuals. Instead, she targets the British sports industry as a whole. The tactic is designed to deceive us into making wide ranging changes to our culture and society. We owe Reddy nothing. Good riddance.
Her departure from Sky is part of an organisational restructure. She is not the only one they have let go. One hopes that there is some sense in the next recruitment drive. I will not be holding my breath.
This article is the first in a new feature at The Heritage Site where I offer my thoughts on ‘‘the current thing’’.
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References
The Telegraph, Sky Sports presenter hits out at racism, sexism and ‘hate’ following exit, 29/5/25, https://sports.yahoo.com/article/sky-sports-presenter-hits-racism-084705864.html, accessed: 1/6/25
Wikipedia contributors. "Melissa Reddy." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 May. 2025. Web. 1 Jun. 2025.