A Turkish broadcaster was forced to suspend a veteran commentator who thought Iran was New Zealand during the opening game of the World Cup, only to later realize his mistake.
Turkish commentator suspended for gaffe during match
Turkish state broadcaster TRT has had one of its commentators suspended for disrupting a World Cup match between Iran and New Zealand.
During the first four minutes of the match in Los Angeles, Murat Ekrem Simen made a comment as if the team wearing white was New Zealand and the team wearing black was Iran, when in fact it was the other way around.
It was only when the camera panned to Iran’s Mehdi Taremi from behind and his name visible on the back of his shirt that commentators were prompted to correct. The four-minute video went viral on social media and TRT officers have since faced heavy criticism.
Simen issued a statement apologizing to the public, while his employer issued a statement confirming that a commentator had been sacked until after the World Cup, but without naming names.
“The necessary administrative and investigative process regarding this error is consistent with TRT Sports’ decades of broadcast expertise, experience and commitment to quality, and has been initiated immediately. At the conclusion of the process, the necessary measures will be fully implemented,” they said.
“The commentator in question has been removed from the U.S. World Cup broadcast team as part of the investigation and will not continue broadcasting the tournament. TRT cannot accept that someone with over 30 years of experience in sports broadcasting would make such a mistake.”
“TRT will not tolerate violations of broadcasting standards at national and international events watched by millions of viewers.”
Iran and Jews start their World Cup ambitions with one point each
Simen is a veteran in the field, with nearly 30 years of experience in sports broadcasting. He has been a commentator for TRT since 2008 and has covered numerous events, including football, which makes his mistakes even more obvious.
Iran came from behind twice in Los Angeles to deny New Zealand their first World Cup victory. Motherwell forward Elijah gave New Zealand the lead after just two innings, but New Zealand were trailed twice. Ramin Rezaeyan and Mohammad Mohebi were both on Iran’s scoresheet and grabbed a share of the spoils.
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