Seven chairman Kerry Stokes has apologised to the Greek Embassy after an incorrect statement during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics describing King Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s Father) as FYROM’s first Olympian champion.
The error caused a furore amongst Greek viewers who inundated the network with complaints and letters from major Greek Australian organisations.
“Greece can proudly claim Alexander the Great as one of their own. We apologise. It was not our network’s intention to disappoint our viewers. I do hope you will accept our sincere apologies for the miscommunication,” Kerry Stokes wrote.
GCM President, Bill Papastergiadis, had earlier written to the network saying, “To simply say in a throw-away line that FYROM’s first gold medal at the games was won by King Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s Father) is wrong on so many levels and offensive to every Hellene and philhellene who know their history and understands the importance of identity and cultural lineage.”
Following the incident Andrew Gaze had responded to complaints on Twitter with a photo of the script.
@TheJogoBonito @Kostamantis Our script. If it is incorrect or wasn't communicated correctly, I sincerely apologise. pic.twitter.com/IbQnqQYOYI
— Andrew Gaze (@AndrewGaze10) August 6, 2016
Its not clear how the error found its way to the presenters’ script.
Seven has recently broadcast errors with national flags of China, New Zealand, France and accidentally referred to Rio as Barcelona.
Source: Neos Kosmos