Footage of Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers calling a journalist a “good girl” has been revealed for the first time.
Rodgers has been criticized for the comment he made to BBC Scotland journalist Jane Lewis after a 3-1 win at Motherwell’s Fir Park on Sunday.
Activists from the For Women Scotland organization accused the Celtic boss of “casual sexism”.
The brief exchange was initially broadcast on the Sportsound radio show, but the BBC News TikTok channel has now published the footage.
In the video, Rodgers appears to pat Lewis after her “good girl” comment, before walking away to abruptly end the interview.
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.
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Lewis, 53, had asked Rodgers to explain himself after he told him that, in terms of the title race, “history has already been written about this group, but we will write our own history.”
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.”
Celtic host Dundee in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday night and Rodgers will no doubt face questions over the controversy ahead of the match.
Lewis, a broadcasting professional with decades of experience, has not commented on the matter and is believed to be unfazed.
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.
Experienced broadcaster Lewis pictured with Partick Thistle’s unusual mascot Kingsley
Lewis has for several years covered Scottish club football and international football, as well as events such as the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.
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 Mail Sport on Sunday evening.
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.
Celtic returned to winning ways after fighting back to beat Motherwell 3-1 in the Premiership.
Celtic manager Rodgers celebrated his team coming from behind to beat Motherwell.
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.
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 boy’ after this interview then it 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.
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, with fans calling it “unacceptable”.
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.
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’…’
