Internet Responds to Daily Beast Writer's Apology: Too Little, Too Late

Nico Hines, the Daily Beast editor who wrote an article in August during the Rio Olympics about finding gay hookups during the games, issued an apology for his actions Tuesday. In the article he gave descriptions and nationalities of several closeted gay Olympians, which effectively outed them, putting them in danger because several of them are from anti-LGBT countries. The article was removed from the website after a swift pushback from LGBT readers.

In an article titled "What I've Learned," Hines, who is a straight, married man, wrote that he was "deeply sorry" for the story, which "never should have been conceived, written, or published."

"The story about athletes using dating apps in the Olympic village did not ask consent and did not advance the public good," Hines wrote. "The article intruded into the lives of people who had a right to be left alone. For some readers it brought up old, ugly LGBTQ stereotypes. And I didn't accurately represent myself during the reporting of the piece. These were all profound failures, and I'm sorry for them."

In an editor's note at the bottom of Hines's apology, it was announced that Hines would be returning full-time to his senior editor and London-based reporter positions.

Cyd Zeigler, the cofounder of OutSports, an LGBT sports website, wrote about the note from Hines, describing it as "a delayed apology without empathy" and "little more than a press release." It was probably Hines's editors who asked that he write the apology, Zeigler wrote, adding that had Hines written a heartfelt apology and not an "academic" one, LGBT people would have felt they were truly heard.

"You let this fester for the better part of a year. You offered no empathy in your apology," Ziegler wrote. "I'll continue to wait for a real one."

Several writers and editors responded to the news on Twitter: