Retracted Fox News Column Sparks Claims of Bigotry

On Feb. 9, Fox News made the decision to pull a column from its own Executive Editor, John Moody, after intense backlash. The column, entitled “In Olympics, let’s focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner,” vigorously condemned Team USA for displaying immense pride in its diversity.

“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,” Moody said in the opening of his article.

Well Mr. Moody, while the motto of Olympics stands, the demographics of the United States have rapidly changed since 1897. With greater diversity in the general population, it is only natural that every profession in the United States becomes subject to an increase in diversity.

In case it was not already wholly evident, making it to the Olympics is far from a simple task. Athletes endure thousands of hours of rigorous physical, mental and emotional training to reach the podium.

These athletes are selected based on their talents and prowess— not the color of their skin or sexual orientation. Moody seems to have no understanding of this concept.

Take Adam Rippon, for example. Rippon became the first openly gay American athlete to qualify for the Winter Olympic Games. Moody’s claim is only valid if Rippon’s stack of championship medals are ignored. At the Olympics, Rippon took home a bronze medal. Skill, not sexuality, propelled him to the podium.

However, Moody’s attacks were not limited to LGBT athletes. He also criticized Team USA for boasting about its heightened ethnic diversity.

“Insisting that sports bow to political correctness by assigning teams quotas for race, religion or sexuality is like saying that professional basketball goals will be worth four points if achieved by a minority in that sport,” Moody said.

Moody clearly has not examined the pure athleticism of 18-year-old Maame Biney, the first black female short-track speed skater to join Team USA. Biney left her competitors in the dust (or ice in this case), as she skated her way to the finish line.

Being a journalist, most would assume that Moody would feel inclined to conduct research before penning a salacious story.

Wrong. Moody instead chose to skip this crucial step and write a story out of his own faulty logic and bigoted mindset. Had he done his research, it would have been clear that race, sexuality or any other form of “political correctness” had no bearing on the selection of Team USA athletes.

So to answer your question Mr. Moody, no— American athletes qualified due to their skills and dedication.

We apologize that the most talented athletes were too “rainbow” for your liking. Hopefully, the number of medals garnered will make up for your hurt feelings.