Sportsbet Australia felt the wrath of respectful people when the betting company decided to allow a punt on female names for Bruce Jenner on Wednesday.
The company has been labelled "transphobic," "disgusting" and "insensitive" by Australians.
Rumours Jenner is undergoing gender reassignment therapy have been doing the rounds for more than a year, with a recent article by TMZ, citing "family sources" confirming the speculation, adding fuel to the fire. The former Olympic athlete and ex-husband of Kris Kardashian has not publicly commented -- and neither has his family.
Sportsbet opened the market for what name "he/she will choose," with a blog post, titled "Brucsilla, Queen of the Kardashians," which despite an apology by the company still remains on the site.
"Keeping up with the Kardashians is a lot more complicated these days than it used to be!" the blog post exclaimed. "With rumours intensifying that Bruce Jenner has undergone a sex change, online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au is giving punters the chance to have a punt on what name he/she will choose."
Let's not mind the fact that betting on someone's gender takes humanity backwards twenty steps.
The blog post then goes on to list names and odds, such as Zoey at $7.50, "grandma" name Agnes at $11 and Bruscilla at $101.
Sportsbet's PR manager Will Byrne also got in on the action with a controversial statement referring to gender reassignment surgery that as far as we know has not taken place. "Fair play to Bruce, it takes a lot of balls to em…cut off your balls. We expect a lot of interest in this market ahead of the big reveal," Byrne said.
The market is now down, with Sportsbet informing Mashable, "these [novelty bet] markets are generally on site for less than 24 hours." So despite widespread criticism the betting was not pulled by the company.
The company has claimed it opened the betting off the back of a planned Dianne Sawyer interview with Bruce, where they believe he will reveal his transition into a female and new name.
Sportsbet finally offered an apology, which strangely appears to make Bruce's decision for him. "At no stage was it our intention to offend anyone with this market and if it has we of course apologise for that," a spokesperson for Sportsbet told Mashable. "We are completely supportive of Bruce and the decision he has made."
Sally Goldner from Transgender Victoria told the Star Observer "this is a person's life, not a sporting event."
“Getting the name you want is probably the most personal moment in a trans* person’s journey, and to have someone play about with it is just so invasive and insensitive," Goldner said. “Regardless of how public anyone might be, it’s still a personal journey.”
Stay class, you bunch of transphobes! RT @sportsbetmedia: What name would you choose for the new Bruce Jenner? - http://t.co/qE8ARvCHL9— KateOnTheGo (@KateOnTheGo) February 18, 2015
Uhm. This is so disgusting. RT "@denhamsadler: Here is SportsBet having a good ol' laugh over a very serious matter. pic.twitter.com/tEJc9iTw4D"— Matt Marsden (@MattKMarsden) February 17, 2015
“@sportsbetmedia: Bruscilla, Queen of the Kardashians?” Because transphobia is 'harmless' in 2015. Get real. You have no excuse.— Matilda Engelmark (@engelmarkm) February 19, 2015
Wow, Sportsbet. Taking bets on a hugely personal, sensitive transition in someone's life. Stay classy. pic.twitter.com/Tw1B0s4HQw— Marc Fennell (@marcfennell) February 17, 2015
I know that Sportsbet PR is meant to be a bit of fun but this is just insensitive and gross. pic.twitter.com/hhycsayuK8— Sally Whyte (@sallywhyte) February 17, 2015
You can't be serious. RT @sophbenj Turns out Sportsbet is even more rude and mercenary than Kris Jenner. Horrific. pic.twitter.com/LOw9KAOgfR— Chris Pycroft (@chrispytweets) February 17, 2015