The Daily Beast writer who outed Olympic athletes finally apologizes

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March 23, 2017 | Sex & Society

The Daily Beast writer who outed Olympic athletes finally apologizes

Well, it only took seven months but The Daily Beast editor and writer Nico Hines is finally ready to apologize for a story he wrote about gay hook-ups at the 2016 Rio Olympics. (Hey, writing eight short paragraphs is no easy task!)

During the games, Hines thought it would be cool to use Grindr to trick gay athletes to meet up with him. He did not reveal he was a journalist working on a story. He did not reveal he was straight, or that he had no interest in actually "hooking up." In the resulting article, he shared details about some of the athletes that could easily identify them; worse, they were from anti-gay countries, putting their livelihoods -- and possibly their lives -- in danger.

The Daily Beast supported the article, choosing to remove any identifying details while defending the piece and the writer. But the backlash was so intense that the site finally agreed it was in bad taste and pulled it from its website. Hines disappeared, refusing to answer for his poor choices.

Well, he has finally come out of the shadows to apologize,

In a n editorial for The Daily Beast, he wrote:

"Seven months ago, The Daily Beast ran a story of mine that never should have been conceived, written, or published. For that, I am deeply sorry.

"Sexuality is an area that people should talk, read and write about—but private individuals’ sex lives are only legitimate topics when they're addressed with their consent or contribute to the public good. The story about athletes using dating apps in the Olympic village did not ask consent and did not advance the public good. The article intruded into the lives of people who had a right to be left alone. For some readers it brought up old, ugly LGBTQ stereotypes. And I didn't accurately represent myself during the reporting of the piece. These were all profound failures, and I’m sorry for them."

He admitted he was insensitive, and that he violated a "safe space" for LGBT athletes. "My article created a charged and critical backlash, and rightly so," he concluded. "The Daily Beast's readers let me know how I got it wrong. I will not get it wrong again."

Though the apology may be sincere, people are not impressed with how long it took for Hines to speak up. He was criticized on social media for not apologizing sooner.

Cyd Zeigler, editor of OutSports, called the apology "academic" and nothing more than a press release.

"Sorry, Mr. Hines. Your apology may have some of the right words, but taking seven months to write those nine paragraphs isn’t enough and never will be," Zeigler wrote. "It took you less than seven days to write your ill-advised piece taking aim at LGBT Olympians. Over seven months for an apology? No."

Had Hines simply done the right thing and printed an apology hours after the article was pulled, we'd all have moved on by now. It seems to us that Hines isn't very good at thinking things through.