10-Year-Old Simone Biles Superfan Gay-Bashed Repeatedly on YouTube
What does this say about the political cusp our nation sits on?
“Jim, you gotta check this out,” a friend messaged me the other day. “You won’t believe how people are gay-bashing this little kid just because he loves gymnastics and dancing. You HAVE to do a story.”
He sent me a link to a YouTube channel with millions of subscribers, adding: “Just read the comments! Pick a short. Any short. It’s too horrible.”
Frankly, even though I don’t need any more horror in my life, I’m delighted my friend sent me the link. Because BEFORE I read the comments, I watched several videos and experienced tremendous positivity and joy.
For background, let me specify that the channel is fluffy. It’s clearly designed for children and family viewing, and there’s NOTHING remotely controversial about it. An upper-middle-class White couple (husband and wife) with big jobs in the entertainment industry make videos of their busy life with six children. No politics. No religion. Nothing remotely approaching sexuality.
Just lots of warmth and laughs.
This sort of family fare is hardly sophisticated or nuanced storytelling. But the public have an appetite for it, as decades of popular…
