A Fox News executive who has a problem with diversity? Shocking.
Just days before the 2018 Winter Games kicked off, the network’s executive vice president John Moody penned a trash op-ed in which he criticized the U.S. Olympic Committee’s pledge to increasing diversity. Moody, who was responding to a Washington Post article titled: “Trying to make Team USA look more like America,” suggested Team USA was sabotaging itself by selecting its athletes based on race and sexual orientation, rather than skills.
“Unless it’s changed overnight, the motto of the Olympics, since 1894, has been ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger.’ It appears the U.S. Olympic Committee would like to change that to ‘Darker, Gayer, Different.’ If your goal is to win medals, that won’t work,” he wrote. “[…] A USOC official was quoted this week expressing pride (what else?) about taking the most diverse U.S. squad ever to the Winter Olympics. That was followed by a, frankly, embarrassing laundry list of how many African-Americans, Asians, and openly gay athletes are on this year’s U.S. team. No sport that we are aware of awards points—or medals—for skin color or sexual orientation.”
As pointed out by the Washington Post, this stupid, bigoted column has since been removed from Fox News’ website.
“John Moody’s column does not reflect the views or values of Fox News and has been removed,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement.
Though the network claims the column isn’t a reflection of its views, this type of rhetoric is very common amongst conservative groups. Just look at the issue of affirmative action: Many right-leaning individuals claim that these attempts to increase diversity actually result in the discrimination of white, heterosexual male candidates. These people, like Moody, are clearly uninformed about institutionalized racism and discrimination.
Moody referred to Jackie Robinson and Jeremy Lin, claiming these athletes were able to succeed in their respective sports without receiving any special treatment based on race.
“If someone is denied a slot on a team because of prejudice, that’s one thing. Complaining that every team isn’t a rainbow of political correctness defeats the purpose of sports, which is competition,” he wrote. “At the Olympic level, not everyone is a winner. Not everyone gets a little plastic trophy to take home.”
We get it, Moody. You have a problem with political correctness and the proverbial participation trophy; but to suggest the USOC only selected minority athletes strictly to meet a quota is incredibly ignorant. For one, this year’s delegation is still predominately white and heterosexual. Out of Team USA’s 243 athletes in South Korea, only 20 are racial minorities: 10 are African American and 10 are Asian American. This year’s team also includes its first two openly gay men.
If the USOC was simply selecting athletes to generate positive publicity, you’d think these numbers would be much higher. Maybe, just maybe, these individuals were sent to represent the U.S. because they’re the best in the country.
