Former “Shark Week” host Mike Rowe shared his reaction to a claim about the issue of diversity on the show.
In a post on Facebook, Rowe shared a photo of himself holding up a screen with an article from the Washington Post titled, “‘Shark Week’ lacks diversity, overrepresents men named Mike, scientists say.”
He reacted, saying, “Good Morning. As a white male named Mike who hosted Shark Week more than once, this headline caught my eye in The Washington Post.”
Rowe added, “I saw it this morning, shortly after awakening in New York City, where I’ve come to promote another Season of Dirty Jobs, which as you may have heard, premieres this Sunday at 8pm on Discovery.”
Noting he has not “yet had my coffee,” Rowe continued, “But in the course of promoting a new season of Dirty Jobs, (Sunday at 8pm on Discovery,) I suspect I might be asked to respond specifically to this headline.”
The post went on to encourage users to leave their thoughts or suggestions in the comments section, unless “you’re a white guy named Mike.”
He joked, “I think we’ve all heard quite enough from you.”
Concluding the post, Rowe reminded followers that “Dirty Jobs” is back on Sundays at 8 p.m. and questioned how “former Shark Week host, Mike Tyson, is taking the news.”
Discovery reported in 2020 that Tyson would make an appearance on the program and “go head to head with a shark as a way to overcome his fear of returning to the ring at 54 years old.”
In case you missed it:
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson got outside his comfort zone on a series of shark dives for Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" https://t.co/dZEmvhKh2W pic.twitter.com/o7iH26ZZ9k
— CNN (@CNN) August 10, 2020
The Post spoke with researchers after they conducted a study asking, “Was ‘Shark Week’ feeding audiences the wrong messages about sharks — and who studies them?”
The study, led by Lisa Whitenack, a biology professor at Allegheny College, examined hundreds of episodes of the show that aired between 1988 and 2020.
According to the study, published last month by the Public Library of Science, “Discovery’s programming emphasized negative messages about sharks, lacked useful messaging about shark conservation and overwhelmingly featured White men as experts — including several with the same name.”
David Shiffman, a conservationist at Arizona State University and co-author of the study, declared the programming “featured more White experts and commentators named ‘Mike’ than women.”
Discovery told NBC Boston they would “pass on commenting on a study that has yet to pass any scientific approvals and stick by our actual scientists and conservation efforts and partners.”
