The official Paralympics TikTok account's portrayal of athletes with disabilities leaves people divided — some see it as "edgy and unique" and others find it offensive
Franck Fife/Getty Images
- People are divided on the official Paralympics TikTok account's portrayal of their athletes.
- Videos on the account are seen as "offensive" to some, but others think they're a great way to raise awareness.
- The upcoming 2024 Paralympic Games is slated to be held from August 28 to September 8 in Paris.
Viral videos from the official Paralympics TikTok account have left people divided.
While some have found the videos to be a fun and great way of raising awareness for the Paralympics, others have viewed the account's portrayal of athletes with disabilities as offensive.
One of the account's most viral videos, captioned "LEFT…LEFT…LEFT…," has over 40 million views and 4.8 million likes as of April 19.
The video shows an athlete pedaling with his left leg, while a comical song plays in the background.
Most of its content is of a similar style — a short clip of an athlete with a disability competing in a sport, coupled with a viral meme-like sound.
And some people have taken offense, saying that the videos are "mocking" the athletes.
—yasmin (@ycsm1n) April 17, 2023
Twitter user @ycsm1n points out a contrast between the content being put out on the Paralympics account versus that on the Olympics account in a Twitter thread.
"Call me a snowflake all you want, I just don't think there's anything particularly funny about this video," another Tweet of hers with more than 600,000 views read.
The person currently running the account is "a Paralympian who fully understands disability" who has "created a strong following through edgy and unique content," according to the International Paralympic Committee, per BBC Newsbeat.
The committee also said that while "not everyone" will like the content, the aim of the videos is to "educate an audience who might be less aware of Paralympic sport and the achievements of our athletes," per BBC.
Some athletes with disabilities are supportive of the account's creative direction.
"I think doing these videos and getting people to view them is just basically getting us noticed and recognizing it's OK to have a disability and it's fine, normalize it, feel comfortable around it and have a laugh with it," Jess Whyte, who plays wheelchair basketball for Loughborough Lightning, told BBC.
On the other hand, others also think that the account should focus on the achievements of Paralympic athletes.
England Amputee footballer Sean Jackson found it disappointing that the platform wasn't used to "promote incredible athletes," per BBC.
"They just choose to sort of mock them and turn them into memes and try and use their sport to entertain people from a comedic point of view," he told BBC.
The upcoming 2024 Paralympic games is slated to be held from August 28 to September 8 in Paris, per the official Paralympic organisation website.