‘Fox News’ Deletes Column By Executive Which Criticized Diversity On U.S. Olympic Team
Fox News executive John Moody published an essay that criticized U.S. Olympic officials for praising diversity on the 2018 United States Winter Olympic team. John Moody says the U.S. Olympic Committee bowed to politically correct pressure “by assigning teams quotas for race, religion, or sexuality.” Moody wrote his column as an op-ed, but Fox News removed it after backlash from civil rights groups.
John Moody Wrote An Essay Criticizing Diversity On The Winter Olympic Team
Though the essay railing against diversity was removed by Fox News, it is still available in an archived source. John Moody titled his piece “In Olympics, let’s focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner,” calling for those in positions of authority on the Olympic Committee not to be swayed by calls for diversity, says BuzzFeed.
John Moody’s current title at Fox is executive vice president, executive editor for Fox News, and he periodically writes op-ed columns for their website. Moody expressed his shock at how many minorities and openly gay people are on the U.S. Olympic Team in the Winter Olympics after he heard an Olympic official expressing his pleasure in the diversity of the team.
“That was followed by a, frankly, embarrassing laundry list of how many African-Americans, Asians and openly gay athletes are on this year’s US team.”
Fox News removes executive editor's "Darker, Gayer, Different" column mocking diversity at Olympics https://t.co/46tAhIS6Jd pic.twitter.com/yQ7VyEQH5U
— The Hill (@thehill) February 9, 2018
Moody Says The USOC Is Trying To Change The Motto To “Darker, Gayer, Different”
Moody looked back to the good old days in 1894 when the Olympic motto was made official as “faster, higher, stronger,” and fears sarcastically that it has been changed.
“It appears the US Olympic Committee would like to change that to ‘Darker, Gayer, Different.'”
The op-ed piece by John Moody was posted on Wednesday, and by this morning, it was gone from the official Fox News site. A spokesman for Fox News released a statement addressing the essay by Moody.
“John Moody’s column does not reflect the views or values of Fox News and has been removed.”
The actual essay by John Moody for Fox News suggests that some athletes were not selected for their athletic prowess, but rather through an affirmative action process based on quotes of race and sexual orientation.
“Were our Olympians selected because they’re the best at what they do, or because they’re the best publicity for our current obsession with having one each from Column A, B, and C?”
Fox News’ Olympics coverage has started, and it’s already a doozy. John Moody, the network’s executive editor and executive vice president, published an op-ed Wednesday lamenting Team USA celebrating its diversity. #Pyeongchang2018 https://t.co/QeyVfw9hZ7
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) February 9, 2018
The Number Of Minorities On The Winter Olympic Team Is Still Rather Low
HuffPost reports that the U.S. Winter Olympic team is still “overwhelmingly” white with far less diversity than the U.S. Summer Olympic teams. But John Moody says that it’s shameful that a USOC official shared it as a positive that there are more African-American and Asian-American athletes than in previous years.
The Washington Post is reporting that John Moody was reacting to a WP article by Rick Maese titled “Trying to make Team USA look more like America.”
For the record, the U.S. Winter Olympic team has 10 African Americans and 10 Asians in a group of 243 athletes, plus two men who are openly gay, snowboarder Gus Kenworthy and figure skater Adam Rippon.
The article posted by John Moody was said to be posted without any vetting due to his tenure and executive standing at Fox News.
