Pam Oliver Responds to Hair Critics

Perhaps you’ve seen the memes. Pam Oliver, FOX Sports NFL reporter, side by side with Chewbacca. The comparison was made over Oliver’s hair during January’s NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers. Certainly Oliver’s hair wasn’t perfect. Maybe the bangs were a little unwieldy, but who cares? Her hair was having a moment. But many viewers weren’t so understanding, using social media to attack the state of Oliver’s locks. After a couple weeks of viewing from the sidelines, the veteran journalist addressed her critics (seemingly with an uninterested shoulder shrug) during an interview with Philly.com. She told the site that she does her own hair and makeup and is often too harried with, um yeah, reporting to worry too much about how she looks. “You’re out there trying to catch players, get your reports turned around quickly, and I may or may not have time to put on lip gloss or powder my face,” Oliver said, citing “tunnel vision” for potential beauty lapses. Oliver also touched on the sexism present in broadcast news: “A guy can wear the same tie every other week, and it’s not even an issue. But if a woman has a strand of hair out of place, people go crazy.” Touché, Pam. Touché. It is in football, as it is in life.

We appreciate Oliver’s candor and decided that instead of rampantly hating on her bangs and highlights, viewers should support her by a) paying closer attention to how knowledgable and generally on-point she is and b) demanding that FOX Sports provide her with some hair and makeup next football season! Because no TV personality should have to do it all alone.