A change.org petition is calling for reporter Nico Hines and The Daily Beast to have their press credentials for covering the Rio Olympics revoked following a report filed by Hines for the Beast in which Hines effectively outed gay Olympians from anti-gay countries.
ICYMI: Straight Journalist Cruises Grindr at the Olympics, Outs Athletes From Anti-Gay Countries
The petition says that The Daily Beast is “not a legitimate news organization and does not deserve to be treated as such.”
As of this posting, the petition has 416 signatures, needing only 84 more to reach its goal.
RELATED: ‘Daily Beast’ Pulls Article That Outed Olympic Athletes Using Grindr, Apologizes
Petition creator Josh Price writes,
“Nico Hines and The Daily Beast showed a severe lack of judgement when they decided it would be funny to gawk and laugh at gay people on dating apps. The result of their lack of concern for gay peoples [sic] lives put gay Olympians in very real and serious danger by outing them. The Daily Beast doubled down on their article and insisted they were not in the wrong. Eventually, The Daily Beast offered a non apology, until it was finally forced to offer an apology due to the sheer outrage of tens of thousands of people.”
He adds, “Outing gay Olympians from Countries where they can suffer physical injuries, abuse, jail,and even death for being gay is not journalism.”
There is also a Facebook group calling for a boycott of The Daily Beast.
If so inclined, you can sign the petition here.
