The BBC Scotland reporter, called a “good girl” by Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers in a brief post-match interview, is “not at all fazed” by his comment.
Rodgers was accused of “casual sexism” and being a “dinosaur” by women’s groups after the comment to Jane Lewis, 53, following Celtic’s win at Motherwell on Sunday.
The Celtic boss has so far resisted calls to apologize to Lewis after their exchange was broadcast on the Sportsound radio show. The BBC also remained silent on the matter.
But a source close to Lewis said the experienced broadcaster “isn’t fazed at all” by the “good girl” comment, but was frustrated that Rodgers decided to cut her interview short despite a reasonable line of questioning.
Lewis had asked Rodgers to explain himself after telling him that, in terms of the Scottish Premiership title race, “history has already been written about this group, but we will write our own history.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was accused of “casual sexism” after saying “good girl” to BBC reporter Jane Lewis at the end of a terse radio interview following his team’s victory at Motherwell.
Lewis had asked Rodgers to explain a cryptic comment about the title race, only for the Celtic boss to interrupt the interview and tell her “good girl” as she walked away.
Experienced broadcaster Lewis pictured with Partick Thistle’s unusual mascot Kingsley. She is said to be unfazed by the Celtic manager’s comment
Lewis has for several years covered Scottish club football and international football, as well as events such as the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.
When she asked him to elaborate, he seemed unhappy with her line of questioning and said, “No, no, you know exactly what I mean.”
Lewis again pressed Rodgers to explain, but he appeared to end the interview and said: “Done, good girl, well done.”
However, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Feminist Network said: “Jane Lewis was just doing her job, trying to get an explanation from Brendan Rodgers about her cryptic comment.
“That the preferred attitude was condescension is quite illuminating, but really very depressing in 2024. We thought dinosaurs were extinct.”
For Women Scotland campaigners called on Rodgers to apologise.
A spokeswoman said: “It is depressing that casual sexism is still entrenched in sport. Women’s achievements are undervalued and dismissed and their professional status is undermined. “Rodgers owes the journalist an apology.
Celtic returned to winning ways after struggling to beat Motherwell in the Premiership.
Celtic manager Rodgers celebrated his team coming from behind to beat Motherwell.
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Meanwhile, former Hibs player Tam McManus described Rodgers’ comments as “absolutely disgraceful” on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Celtic chose not to comment when contacted by sport mail Sunday night.
Legendary broadcaster Jeff Stelling was horrified by the Celtic manager’s “good girl” comment.
Speaking on talkSPORT, she said: ‘Good girl, good girl? Oh my god, Brendan. What does it mean?’
Rodgers is under pressure amid a tight title race with arch-rivals Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.
Rangers beat Hearts 5-0 on Saturday to move five points clear of Celtic at the top, but their late goals at Motherwell reduced the gap to two points.
Experienced broadcaster Lewis, who has previously worked for Sky News, Sky Sports, Eurosport and STV’s Scotland Today programme, came under fire from social media trolls after Sunday’s exchange.
Lewis has covered major sporting events including the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow and on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Legendary broadcaster Jeff Stelling questioned Rodgers’ comments on his TalkSPORT show
There was a lot of support for Lewis on social media following Rodgers’ comment.
He reports on European and World Cup qualifiers with the Scotland national football team, as well as covering Scottish national football and European matches involving their clubs.
She responded to a now-deleted post saying, “This is simply NOT true!!!”
One Celtic account accused her of being a Motherwell fan who “fell apart” after Celtic’s late win, while another alleged Lewis had a “long-standing agenda with Celtic”.
Many others on social media supported Lewis. One post wrote: “It’s just condescending to say ‘good girl’.” Saying good man is totally different. “If I said ‘good guy’ after this interview, I would be equally condescending in my opinion.”
Another said: ‘Get a grip. Treating a commenter that way is unacceptable. No one is asking for a point deduction, but an apology might be nice. Maybe also less sexist abuse, which seems to be all people like you are capable of.
Lewis previously defended himself against criticism from Celtic fans. In December 2021, he was presenting Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland when Celtic won in the 97th minute at Ross County.
This led to a mass invasion of the pitch by Celtic fans, with those on social media opining that Lewis was upset by the crucial late winner and the reaction.
Fans on social media said Rodgers’ treatment of Lewis was ‘unacceptable’
Lewis tweeted at the time: “I’m a little baffled that some seem to enjoy my ‘apparent pain’ more than their team winning a football game.”
‘Just for the record, I’m not ‘uneasy’, ‘hurt’, ‘bitter’ or ‘deflated’…’