NBC Sports anchor and longtime Olympic coverage host Bob Costas yesterday vowed to the LGBT community that his network will not ignore Russia’s anti-gay laws during their coverage of the Sochi Olympics.
“If Putin doesn’t drag his butt into the studio, then we’ll talk about it without him,” Costas said during an Olympics press preview. “But if he shows up, we’d rather talk to him. Wouldn’t you rather hear it from the horse’s mouth? I would. That’s what I was trying to say.” At the press event in Studio 8H of “Saturday Night Live” fame, NBC executives expressed how significant the world sports spectacle is for the entertainment and media conglomerate. NBC Universal chief Steve Burke went as far as to say, “The soul of this company is the Olympics.”
Costas and network executives on Tuesday stressed that NBC News plans to address political and social issues relevant to the games.
NBC lost $223 million on the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, but the company has said it expects to turn a profit this time around based on strong advertising sales for the 18 days of competition beginning Feb. 7
And personally don’t give a damn about NBC’s profits and losses or about the athletes “Olympic Dreams.” That seems to be the prevailing excuse from the athletes on why they feel it is important to attend the Sochi Games . . . their hard work, their “Olympic Dreams.”
Apparently whatever intelligence or empathy athletes possess presides purely in their muscles, and their tiny-tiny imaginations, and their pathetic dreams, when they think a few moments of glory and attention, and a piece of scrap metal is more important than human rights and Russia’s persecution of the LGBT community which is beginning to mirror that of Nazi Germany
There could be no games if the athletes refused to participate. This was an opportunity for the athletes and NBC to challenge and speak out loudly against decades of IOC hypocrisy and veto their choice of venue. But they remained silent and have instead opted for shallow excuses.
The shame of America’s athletes and NBC’s greed will not be forgotten.