(EDITOR'S NOTE: This post was written by guest blogger Marc Lallanilla.)
Openly gay Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham came from behind to win a gold medal at Beijing. But NBC's Olympic broadcasters routinely failed to mention the Aussie's sexuality, even while yakking about straight athlete's girlfriends, boyfriends, hook-ups, etc. The peacock network had a few plumes yanked out of its tail as a result of the omission (for which they later apologized).
AfterElton scores a good interview with NBC Olympic sportscaster Bob Costas, who tries to explain the network's "don't-ask-don't-tell" style of broadcasting. Costas does an admirable job of dancing around the issue, but despite his best efforts, it's clear that he and others are still squeamish about gay athletes.
Costas: "I was not focused on it. It was just something that wasn’t on my radar screen to be perfectly honest. But had it been, I would have thought it was a worthwhile thing to mention."
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
NBC: Better Late Than Never?
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7 comments:
"came from behind to win the gold"
Was this sentence written intentionally?
To jd: You busted me -- and what a behind it is, too. Can you believe the physique on that guy? Stunning.
I wonder how everyone would of acted had he mentioned it ?
Wait. Please help me understand this. I'm gay, too. And I'm proud of it. But why does it matter that the TV broadcaster didn't mention the athlete's sexuality?
Was he supposed to do so? I mean, does he HAVE to know? What if he doesn't, and if he does, was it worth mentioning? "Oh by the way, this guy's dad is asian so he's not 100% american-blood.", "This guy has both boyfriend and girlfriend so he's probably a BI". Really? Do we need this on a freaking SPORT TV?
Explain this to me.
Not sure if intentional or not, but thought I would let you know what I see when I click your initials.
"ML"
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Alan.
(You can delete this comment)
To desperate houseboy: check out the article on AfterElton to see the whole story. Costas and everyone else knew Mitcham was gay, but chose to say nothing because of some unwritten code in sports broadcasting. He's also totally out and has a BF who was there in Beijing with him. So, given the fact that NBC told everyone else's GF/BF/wife/husband stories, it seems like this was an intentional omission -- and a bad call, which Costas and others at NBC now admit.
To Alan: thanks for letting me know. I'm new to blogging, so I should probably spend 5 minutes to get a freakin' profile. Cheers!
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