Under Pressure, Fox News Deletes Column Blasting 'Darker, Gayer' Olympic Team

After uproar from LGBT rights groups, the Fox News website has taken down a column in which an executive claimed that diversity on the U.S. Winter Olympics team came at the expense of competitiveness.

"Unless it's changed overnight, the motto of the Olympics, since 1894, has been 'Faster, Higher, Stronger,'" Fox News executive vice president and executive editor John Moody wrote in the Wednesday column. "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."

"Complaining that every team isn't a rainbow of political correctness defeats the purpose of sports, which is competition," he continued. "At the Olympic level, not everyone is a winner. Not everyone gets a little plastic trophy to take home."

Of course, that ignores the fact that athletes are chosen for the Olympics based on their performance, not ever to fill a racial or sexual orientation quota. Some of the best athletes just happen to be LGBT or people of color. But Moody wondered if they might have been selected "because they're the best publicity for our current obsession with having one each from column A, B and C." He also objected to the U.S. Olympic Committee touting the diversity of this year's team, which has the highest number ever of Asian-American and black athletes on a U.S. Winter Olympics team and the first openly gay winter competitors.

Fox News deleted the column Friday afternoon, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and issued a statement saying it "does not reflect the views or values" of the news channel. A source at Fox News told the Reporter that because of Moody's high rank, "the column was not put through the proper vetting process."

GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Center for Lesbian rights all gave statements to the Reporter condemning the column.

"The executive vice president of Fox News targeted some of our nation's top athletes with vicious anti-LGBTQ and biased rhetoric at what should be the proudest moment of their lives," said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD.

"These athletes are at the Olympics because they already won by qualifying to represent the United States on the world's stage; and they did so despite facing discrimination from places like Fox News throughout their careers," she continued. "Moody should not only apologize to the athletes and fans for this disgraceful post, but Fox News should open their site for diverse athletes to share their own personal stories and perspectives."

The column is "the antithesis of what the Olympics are all about and an affront to the values of hard work and perseverance that Americans share," said HRC senior national press secretary Stephen Peters, adding, "The U.S.O.C. does not have quotas for its Olympic delegation, and to suggest that race, sexuality, or gender orientation are the reasons these incredible athletes made the cut is insulting, repugnant and dismissive of a lifetime of hard work."

National Center for Lesbian Rights deputy director Catherine Sakimura said the column's "racist and homophobic sentiment demeans our U.S. Olympic athletes, who should be celebrated as they represent our country."