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.
Related: Everyone’s Pissed At This Straight Journalist Who Used Grindr To Out Gay Athletes In Rio
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.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
.@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.
Related: People Are Still Really, Really Mad At That Straight Reporter Who Outed Gay Athletes In Rio
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:
MediaGuy
Hell yeah. But sending him packing and deleting the Daily Beast article is just step one. Now have the balls to fire him in a public way so he cannot get another job. Fuc king with peoples lives this way is not funny and not acceptable. Time for a career change for this clown.
fredo777
*Follow*
silveroracle
@MediaGuy: Agreed.
I know what it’s like to be outed.
Thankfully mine was okay. That said, it’s still not nice!
zipperzone
What took them so long?
CC
We’re either missing some information here, or you’ve drawn the wrong conclusion on what happened. The IOC’s statement about the article being unacceptable didn’t send the jerkwad home. The statement is one thing, the Daily Beast’s decision is another thing, and they may or may not be connected — if they are, this article certainly doesn’t show how they are.
Ksb1978
He needs to be sent to the unemployment line.
stanpaske
So sad! Not sorry! The DailyBeast needs to be sent packing too. They approved this sad and pathetic article. There is no reason for them to continue either. They are equally and probably more responsible for their contribution.
Gays need to be pushing TheDailyBeast to bankruptcy.
He sucks! His name is zero. His bosses need to pay too. This website needs to die too. They fucking suck for being stupid enough to publish such a BS article.
martinbakman
I laughted at the BBC referring to the story originating from Daily Beast in the US, not bothering to confirm Nico Hines is based in London
GayEGO
Hmmmm……why would a straight journalist guy do this? Probably because he is a closet queen or a homophobic! :>)