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Out Olympian Denounces Daily Beast's Grindr Article
Out Olympian Denounces Daily Beast's Grindr Article
The Daily Beast "should be ashamed" of the article, which could potentially endanger closeted athletes, says Amini Fonua, a swimmer from Tonga.
UPDATE: The Daily Beast withdrew the article late Thursday night, following an online apology and after the story was edited to remove some of the questionable details originally included in the report.
A gay Olympian from the Pacific island nation of Tonga is calling out a Daily Beast contributor for his article on using Grindr to find gay hookups in the Olympic Village -- an article that could potentially put closeted gay men in danger.
This afternoon, swimmer Amini Fonua "let fly a tweet storm that powerfully captures the damage this story will cause," reports Slate, which earlier had carried a piece denouncing the Beast's story.
Daily Beast reporter Nico Hines, a straight, married man, wrote the story about using a variety of hookup apps -- some aimed at straight people, some at gay ones -- to see if the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro "is a hotbed of partying athletes, hookups, and sex, sex, sex."
He got the most responses on gay-oriented Grindr, so he focused on those. His article originally included respondents' nationalities and descriptions of their physical appearance -- details that could have the effect of outing closeted athletes, creating a danger for those from anti-LGBT nations. Eventually the site's editors cut those identifying details.
There had been few comments on the article from athletes, Gus Kenworthy being a notable exception, until Fonua began tweeting. A sample:
\u201cIt is still illegal to be gay in Tonga, and while I'm strong enough to be me in front of the world, not everybody else is. Respect that.\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470949325
\u201cAs an out gay athlete from a country that is still very homophobic, @thedailybeast ought to be ashamed #deplorable https://t.co/qzS9rDFJwx\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470947303
\u201cNo straight person will ever know the pain of revealing your truth, to take that away is just... I can't. It literally brings me to tears \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470948964
\u201cShame this inhumane CREEP who thought it'd be funny to endanger people's lives in the village \ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffc @NicoHines\u201d— Amini Fonua (@Amini Fonua) 1470954619
The Daily Beast article, published late Wednesday, was withdrawn late Thursday evening.
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