Leftist bloggers like Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress are agitating for NBC Sports to make the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia yet another moment for gay-Left activism, in protest of Russia’s crackdown against freedom of speech for the gay agenda. At the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles, NBC executives were pushed to promise assertively hostile coverage of current Russian sexual politics.
The leftist group calling themselves “Truth Wins Out” (appointed in 2011 as honorary camera operators for ABC News in trashing Michelle Bachmann) has started a petition drive proposing that Comcast and NBC-Universal should demonstrate their strong support for diversity by making MSNBC host Rachel Maddow a “human rights correspondent” for Olympic coverage:
“People around the world want to watch and support the Olympics, but they want to do so with a clear conscience. Make a difference, NBC, by adding Rachel Maddow to the Olympic coverage as a special Human Rights Correspondent,” said TWO executive director Wayne Besen.
“Rachel has the expertise and the instincts to tell this full story to a viewing audience who are appalled by the treatment of their Russian brothers and sisters,” said the group's associate director, Evan Hurst. “Adding her to NBC’s coverage won’t fly in the face of the Olympic spirit, but rather enhance it, as there is nothing in the ethics or the history of the Olympic Games that can coexist peacefully with the war Russia is waging against her own citizens, and the rest of the world needs to know.”
Rosenberg reported NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus stuck with a wait-and-see sound: “We will address those issues as they are relevant at the time of the Games.” He added:
“The IOC [International Olympic Committee] has addressed it with the Russian government and has assured athletes, fans, media that there will not be any issues regarding what takes place during the Games,” he said. “So we take the IOC that is watching this very closely and they’re monitoring this. We will address it if it becomes an issue. Right now they have a law that is the law of their land, and governments across the world have different laws, but as long as it doesn’t affect us or the athletes, we will again acknowledge that it exists, but I don’t know what it’s going to mean to us yet…
If it is still their law and it is impacting any part of the Olympic Games, we will make sure that we acknowledge it and recognize it. We as a company, obviously, believe in equality, opportunity for all. We don’t believe that the Games are in the spirit of the law that they’ve passed, and we’re hopeful that the Olympic spirit will win out.”
It should be obvious by now that “diversity”-obsessed Comcast execs are huge Obama backers and serious funders and promoters of gay activist groups. TWO and GLAAD will surely have sympathetic liberal ears to bend.
