Monday, January 13, 2014

Will NBC's Olympics Broadcasts Ignore Russia's Anti-Gay Laws?


With the 2014 Winter Olympics almost upon us, a growing question is whether or not NBC - which has the broadcast rights for the Winter Games - kiss Vladimir Putin's bigoted ass and ignore the anti-gay laws and policies in Russia - policies that are frighteningly similar to how Hitler began his "final solution" for the Jews in 1930's Germany.   I for one plan to flip the dial and watch anything but NBC while the games are being televised.  Many friends plan to boycott the Winter Games coverage.  We have even started buying Pepsi instead of Coke (another Winter Games advertiser).  NBC, perhaps trying to save its financial ass - is claiming that it will not ignore the anti-gay laws and near pogroms against gays.    Time will tell if NBC is lying or not.   Huffington Post looks at NBC's dubious promises:
Bob Costas, the face of NBC’s primetime Sochi Olympics coverage, recently made headlines by telling the Associated Press that he was more interested in interviewing President Vladimir Putin about Russia’s controversial anti-gay laws than in offering his own commentary. 

That comment, Costas said Tuesday, was misinterpreted by some to suggest that he would avoid discussion of the widely condemned law banning gay "propaganda."

“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.”

In addition to covering the Opening Ceremony and every sporting event, Costas and network executives on Tuesday stressed that NBC News plans to address political and social issues relevant to the games. 

Costas said that while everyone is keeping fingers crossed that nothing happens, the threat of a terrorist attack -- coupled with the controversy over Russian’s anti-gay laws -– have likely “increased awareness and interest in these games.”

“They don’t take the place of the competition, but I think people will be curious about that,” Costas said. “And at the beginning, we’ll discharge our responsibility in a straightforward way because framing those issues is part of the backdrop.
You have to frame the circumstances under which these events are about to take place, and then you return to those issues if and when they impact the games.”
Again, I will believe it if and when it happens.  In the interim, I will be watching anything buy NBC's coverage.  For those who wonder why I am so vehement, this highlights from a post on   The Gay Christian sum it up well under the caption "Silence is Deadly":

Look at this picture [the one at the top of this post].  No, I mean, really look at it.

What you are looking at is only a minor version of what is happening in Russia at the moment. Every day, LGBT individuals are being sought out and attacked. Every day, people are being assaulted and then thrown in jail for things as simple as wearing a rainbow lapel pin.

What you are staring at is the face of victimization and oppression. You are starting at the blood of human beings being spilled simply because they have an attraction to the same gender. And it’s possible you’re as much to blame as anyone else.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Now, I know that quote has been thrown around for decades, but here lately, it is beginning to make so much more sense, and it is beginning to dig deeper into my spirit.

People are dying. Today. Simply because they are gay.  People are being beaten. Today. Simply because they are gay.  People are being forced into prison. Today.  Simply because they are gay.

The Far Right has said for years that we have a “gay agenda.” I propose that we finally give them one. We have an agenda to seek the right to life, peace, and prosperity. We have an agenda of wanting to be able to love the person that we love without fear of being killed or beaten. We have an agenda of wanting to simply hold our partner’s hand in public without being spit upon, cursed at, or threatened. We have an agenda of wanting to be able to live with the person of our choosing without being forced into prison for doing so.

This is what we want, but we can’t do it silently. And we can’t do it while you – whether you’re gay, straight, trans*, or anything in between – sit there in silence. Speak up.  When you see or hear bigotry – speak up.

The time to be silent is over. If we’re going to make further progress, we have to get louder. We need you. These victims need you. Russia needs you. Uganda needs you. India needs you. America needs you.

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