If Outing Gay Olympians Wasn’t The Daily Beast’s Intent — WHAT WAS?

Dissecting the unacceptable apology issued superficially by The Daily Beast

If you care at all about LGBTQ+ people — not just their rights, but you also have a deep respect for their struggle — then you, like me, are still enraged by Nico Hines’ piece that outed Olympic athletes for using Grindr. The piece has thankfully (finally) been retracted, after a stubborn period where the editors attempted to defend their “intent” in publishing the piece. It’s since been replaced with this note from The Daily Beast editors.

The note is just barely better than the dismissive editor’s note that first appeared at the BOTTOM of the original piece — which had been edited to remove identifying information that put the lives of Olympic athletes who live in homophobic countries (where being gay is ILLEGAL) in very real danger. The first note was barely a “whoops.” The second note that remains posted is, in my view, hardly any better.

It starts off saying that they did not consider the action of removing the post “lightly.” They gave more thought to removing the post than they ever did in posting it. If they’d put a fraction of thought into who the people are that they were outing, then as the “allies” they purport to be, they would have realized how fucked the original piece really was. Instead, the writer Nico Hines — who I have yet to see demonstrate even a speck of remorse — giggled at Grindr and blindly commented on a culture he took no time to understand and neglected the gravity of his clickbait phrasing.

In my view, they are still taking this issue very lightly, in contrast to the stark realities they cannot undo in these people’s lives. Some who had yet to come out. Some who protect their sexuality for fear of outdated, repugnant societal standards that are more in line with The Daily Beast’s rationale than The Daily Beast cares to admit. I care, and I see the negligence. I refuse to stand by without calling them out for this.

They go on to say that after they considered the piece, in light of a lot of genuinely wounded and angry backlash, they still decided to leave it up. It was only after this backlash became unrelenting that they realized “we are wrong.” They needed to be told over and over again why it was wrong by the people they are pretending to support, in order to understand why it was wrong and remove the post. This is not an ally. This is an ignorant publication pretending one identity, but displaying another. If they can out a teenage Olympic athlete for not being ready to live his truth, I have no issue outing them for not living theirs.

The worst part comes next. “…we apologize to the athletes who may have been inadvertently compromised by our story.” This is the equivalent of a schoolyard bully saying, “I’m sorry you feel that my noogies were unwarranted.” This is a coward’s apology and the insincerity is palpable.

Following these disgusting remarks that do not equate to a real apology, they go on to explain “The Daily Beast’s values” that the post was in conflict with. Something they seem to have invented as a means of distancing the name of The Daily Beast from the editors who published the piece, without naming any names. This is like if your high school suspended you for being gay, then the school said “We failed the student, and teachers acted in conflict with the school. Don’t blame the school. It was unfortunate events that the school does not condone.” There is no culpability here. It’s a damn dodge. Shame on you, everyone at The Daily Beast who approved this thin apology.

The icing on the cake is in the final graf. The Daily Beast wants you now to blame The Daily Beast, conflicting with what they said in the previous paragraph and absolving the writer Nico Hines — whose Daily Beast bio says he is, in fact, the editor of The Daily Beast in London — from his egregious responsibility in writing the piece in the first place. I understand being on assignment, if that was even the case. I also understand being a decent human. Nico Hines owes the world an apology for his exploitative piece, and instead we just get silence from the entitled man who is probably still hobnobbing with Olympians and will one day likely cringe while laughing off that time in Rio when he got in trouble for writing about Grindr. Until you express remorse, Nico Hines, I will never stop hearing your giggle.

The Daily Beast has not righted this wrong. Nico Hines has not stepped up to express his shame. And Olympic athletes, who deserve this moment to experience how extremely worthy they are as people, at a time they worked hard that should be exclusively celebrating their talents, are instead reduced to the burned-out wick at the end of the torch that should’ve ignited pride instead of alighting their personal lives that they had every right to shield from the public.

I’m angry. But I’m also in awe of one specific Olympian, Amini Fonua, whose response resonates with the same unity reflected by the iconic Olympic rings. I’m forever in awe of this kind of strength over all the athleticism at the Olympics combined.