On Sunday, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) made an announcement that will no doubt make plenty of people happy, our readership not least among them.
Following his “gay baiting” story — in which Daily Beast contributor Nico Hines scored Grindr dates with athletes participating in the Rio Olympics — the publication has decided to send the journalist packing.
The IOC issued a statement that said Hines’ story was “simply unacceptable.”
.@NicoHines very pleased you've been sent home. Be nice if you also had the guts to apologise and recognise what a terrible thing you did.
— John Handscombe (@JohnHandscombe) August 15, 2016
Hey @thedailybeast: Out of curiosity, why is @NicoHines still employed? He literally could have gotten someone killed.#firenicohines
— J. MQ (@Eponineq) August 15, 2016
@NicoHines hasn't tweeted since his horrible piece of homophobic garbage was pulled from @thedailybeast. Hopefully he's busy with his resume
— ChadTaylor (@ChadTaylor) August 15, 2016
His article — which featured the headline “The other Olympic sport in Rio: Swiping” — described characteristics that could’ve lead to some of the athletes being recognized.
After initially being subtly revised, the entire story has since been removed from the site in lieu of a single line of copy that simply reads, “We were wrong. We will do better.”
Nevertheless, the piece managed to drum up considerable controversy last week, seriously angering the Facebook and Twitter hordes.
Many readers felt (rightly) that the article constituted a glib invasion of privacy, and was even a potentially dangerous move, considering the fact that many competitors hail from countries that still discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community.
The Daily Beast has since issued a lengthier apology, which reads (in part):
“We were wrong. We’re sorry. And we apologize to the athletes who may have been inadvertently compromised by our story.“Today we did not uphold a deep set of The Daily Beast’s values. These values – which include standing up to bullies and bigots, and specifically being a proudly, steadfastly supportive voice for LGBT people all over the world – are core to our commitment to journalism and to our commitment to serving our readers.”
Amini Fonua, a Tongan swimmer who’s openly gay, also took to Instagram to voice his consternation with the whole situation:
Fuck u never know what u did, u make big problem to athlete, i wish. I was to snap to u face of what did!!!!!ASSHOLE!!!