"So irresponsible to do this" - Martina Navratilova slams reporter for allegedly misidentifying transgender killer as a "woman"

Martina Navratilova has expressed her outrage at the BBC reporters for allegedly referring to a transgender woman, who was convicted of murder, as a female in a news report. Navratilova, who has been vocal about transgender issues in sports, called the BBC’s coverage of the case 'unreal' and 'irresponsible'.

The incident revolves around Scarlet Blake, a transgender woman aged 26, who was found guilty in July 2021 of the murder of Jorge Martin Carreno, a 30-year-old Spanish engineer, in Oxford. Blake enticed Carreno into going to a secluded area by the river, where she struck him on the head with a vodka bottle, strangled him, and ultimately forced him into the water, leading to his drowning.

Blake had also live-streamed the killing of her neighbor’s cat four months earlier. She was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 24 years, plus four months for animal cruelty and two months for criminal damage (via The Guardian).

The BBC reported on the case before the verdict was delivered and used female pronouns for Blake, who came out as transgender at the age of 12. An X (formerly Twitter) user shared a clip of the BBC reporters discussing the case and accused them of 'falsely portraying the male murderer as a woman'.

"Here’s the moment @BBCNews journalists falsely portrayed the male murderer Scarlet Blake (also known as Fangze Wang and later Alice Wang) as a woman, to millions of UK viewers," the user wrote.

The tweet caught the attention of Navratilova, widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, who shared the clip and added her own comment:

"Unreal. So irresponsible to do this- and unfair."

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Martina Navratilova shares honest reflections on the consequences of coming out as gay

Martina Navratilova at the 2023 WTA Finals

Martina Navratilova discussed the repercussions of publicly revealing her sexual orientation.

During an episode of the 'On with Kara Swisher' podcast in November 2023, Navratilova, who openly declared her lesbian identity in 1981, was questioned about her encounters with endorsements beyond the realm of tennis.

In her response, the Czech-American athlete said that sponsors' uncertainty about her may have resulted in her potentially losing out on substantial financial opportunities, possibly amounting to millions.

"Nobody said no, but nobody said yes either. I can't say how much money I lost by being out, but it's in millions, there's no doubt about that," Martina Navratilova said.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion admitted, though, that she got a decent number of international sponsorship deals.

"I got deals in Japan, but not in America. You didn't see any commercials," Martina Navratilova said. "And my agent back then said, 'You know, when I'm in a meeting in Madison Avenue, there's always advertisers, you throw in different names. The people get excited... when I throw in your name, the room goes silent", she added (16:20).

"So, I didn't have any deals except shoes, rackets, and clothing, but even though I was #1 in '78-'79 before I was out," she added. "And when I did start dominating the tour, I still didn't get any deals in the States outside of that... Any kind of endorsements were to somebody else in Europe", Navratilova concluded.