Thanks to a mole at NBC Sports, AfterElton.com was able to obtain this exclusive transcript of an IM conversation between an NBC reporter trying to convince his boss that Matthew Mitcham's upset gold medal victory in the Men's 10 meter platform was worth coverage by the network.
NBCLACKEY: Hey, Boss! Got a great story for tonight’s Oly coverage!
NBCHONCHO: Is it something else about Phelps! Woo hoo!
NBCLACKEY: Um, no. He left Beijing already.
NBCHONCHO: Oh. :-( What then?
NBCLACKEY: On Matthew Mitcham’s last dive during the Men’s 10 M platform—
NBCHONCHO: Men’s what?
NBCLACKEY: 10 M platform. You know, diving.
NBCHONCHO: Oh. Don’t really like that.
NBCLACKEY: Really? Why?
NBCHONCHO: Speedos
NBCLACKEY: ???
NBCHONCHO: Speedos are too revealing.
NBCLACKEY: I see. You must hate women’s beach volleyball then.
NBCHONCHO: ???
NBCLACKEY: Nevermind.
NBCHONCHO: With speedos u see all of a guy’s junk. Nasty
NBCHONCHO: And gay. Besides 10 m isn’t that high. Not impressed. My ten year old can do that.
NBCLACKEY: Um, that’s meters, not feet.
NBCHONCHO: Oh, yeah. Still what is that? Fifteen feet?
NBCLACKEY: Actually, its more than double that. 32 feet.
NBCHONCHO: Stupid European measurements.
More after the break...
NBCLACKEY: Anyway, on his last dive Mitcham posted highest score ever and came from behind to beat Zhou Luxin for the gold!
NBCHONCHO: Is he American?
NBCLACKEY No, Australian.
NBCHONCHO: Really? I thought they were just good skiers. And weightlifters like Schzerneger NBCHONCHO: Schwazaneger…Swarznerge… you know, The Terminator, the Governor of California NBCLACKEY: Not Austrian. AUSTRALIAN. Down Under.
NBCHONCHO: Ah. Too bad. Wish he were American. Too bad Phelps doesn’t dive. I wonder if he could. Anybody ever ask?
NBCLACKEY: Don't think so. Anyway, it’s still a great story. Mitcham kept the Chinese men from winning all eight gold medals in diving. Nobody thought he could do it! It was a huge upset.
NBCHONCHO: I like a story about someone knocking off those Chinese. They won too many damned golds.
NBCLACKEY: Plus the kid has a great personal story. He burnt out on diving in 2006 and quit the sport. He’s struggled with anxiety and depression, but then his coach talked him into coming back last year and he overcame all that age nineteen. And now he beat the Chinese juggernaut with the most amazing dive ever in Olympic history. It was so exicting! And there’s more!
NBCLACKEY: Hello? You still there?
NBCLACKEY: ???
NBCHONCHO Sorry. Somebody sent me this hilarious clip of a cat that eats with a fork! OMFG, it’s so hilarious! Wish we could show this!
NBCLACKEY: Um, okay. So do you want to hear the rest of Mitcham’s story?
NBCHONCHO: Who?
NBCLACKEY: The diver! Who upset the Chinese!
NBCHONCHO: Oh, yeah. Sure.
NBCLACKEY: Here is the best part. He actually came out as gay about six months ago. And he was the only out gay male at the Games. It's so impressive!
NBCHONCHO: I thought all the divers were gay. They all seem a little fruity. Not like water polo players!
NBCLACKEY: Not only did he just come out, but his performance is the greatest ever by an out gay man at the Olympics. He made history! Then after he was awarded the gold medal, he climbed into the stands to kiss his mom and partner who only got to be there ‘cuz a corporation gave them a grant. It’s a great heartwarming, historical story. It’s great TV. Folks will eat it up!
NBCHONCHO: We can’t show THAT! Families will be watching.
NBCLACKEY ???
NBCHONCHO: We don’t do sex at the Olympics. Who do you think we are -- Fox?
NBCLACKEY: Sex? Who said anything about sex?
NBCHONCHO: You said he kisses his partner.
NBCLACKEY: That’s not sex!
NBCHONCHO: Close enough. Besides, we can’t do a story like that. We don’t ever discuss an athlete’s sexuality.
NBCLACKEY: You’re kidding, right? We show straight folks' boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives all the time. And lots of kissing. We did a whole piece on one female athlete’s fiancée and he’s not even in the Olympics. How is that not discussing sexuality?
NBCHONCHO: Well, that’s straight people so it’s not sex. Gay is, well, GAY. Say, are you gay or something?
NBCLACKEY What? You’ve met my wife and two kids. Why would you ask that?
NBCHONCHO: You just seem sort of obsessed with this.
NBCLACKEY: I’m a reporter and this is news. Pretty damn big news. And you said to tell you about any heartwarming stories. It’s what you pay me to do. Remember?
NBCHONCHO: Fine. You’re not gay. But is it really historical? There have been other gay Olympic athletes. Haven’t there?
NBCLACKEY: Yes, but they weren’t out. Mitcham won after he came out. It’s like if the first black diver won gold.
NBCHONCHO: Totally not the same thing.
NBCLACKEY: Sure seems like it to me.
NBCHONCHO Look, this just isn’t right for NBC. Stick it up on the website. That’s good enough. NBCLACKEY: Really? This was a huge upset. We show almost all the upsets.And we love these stories of triumph over adversity.
NBCHONCHO: I’ll pass. You realize there are 10,000 athletes here, right? We can't tell EVERY single one's story.
NBCLACKEY: But this isn't just any story! This is special.
NBCHONCHO: Eh. Not that special. But tell ya what, I think we should do a follow up on that love triangle between those French and Italian athletes. And what about Phelps? Why don’t we do something about his favorite X-Box games? Or how he eats 12,000 calories a day. Americans will love that. Oh, and something else about those female volleyball players! Can’t get enough of them! ;-)
NBCLACKEY: Sigh.
PUleese
Someone went to great lengths to forge that exchange. It in no way rings with authenticity especially between a "lackey" and a "honcho." Dick Ebersol (Brother of gay fave Christine Ebersol and husband of Susan Saint James and survior of the air crash that killed their 13 year old son, Teddy) is hardly homophobic. He is NBC Olympic Coverage. The problem is two fold, Mitch's come from behind victory was unexpected and swimming and diving were winding down (with no expected US medalists) as Track and Field was heating up. I cannot accept that it was a homophobic oversiight.
NBC did an amazing job at covering so many events in so many different fields, but sometimes things can slip through the cracks, why don't you stop nit picking and celebrate Mitch's come from behind victory and his grace and dignity through it all. Would you be chastising NBC if they had not covered the event and a Chines guy had won and the story went uncovered?
Trust me Mitch will get his fair share of post Olympic games coverage because he is gay.
INSIDEGUY
Um, I thought it was clear it was our making fun of
Wow
Is this for real?!
Edit: Oh, never mind...lol
"I walk with dignity. I step with pride."
Satire
Michael - You beat me to it by a minute. I just signed on to post about satire! It seems to me it should have been obvious.
I'm in the middle on this one. I think it's a shame that NBC didn't cover the story more - not so much because Matthew is gay, but because the feat was so spectacular considering the Chinese dominance of the sport and all the expectations. I think some of us are badly over-reacting, though. The lack of coverage was unfortunate, but it seems excessive to focus on it too much and turn it into some big slur.
Who knows what the NBC guys were actually thinking. My own guess is that they intentionally avoided the gay angle because they wanted to avoid anything controversial, and that they didn't play the event up more because they weren't prepared for it. Networks tend to go with what they're most prepared for, and to follow a scripted game plan. Either way, though, I'm with Inside Guy on the idea that we should spend more time celebrating the victory and less time obsessing about coverage.
Obviously there can be all sorts of valid viewpoints here
but I think for whatever reason, NBC blew this and should own up to it. And they only way they are going to understand that is if someone -- us and other blogs -- truly call them on this. If we don't either educate them or let them know they are being watched, then they have absolutely zero incentive to do better next time. At least now they know that folks expect gay athletes to be covered the exact same way.
As for making too much out of this, don't forget Hughes' very first comment was that they don't cover athlete's sexuality. Not that they didn't have time to do it or that Mitcham was Australian, but that they don't discuss personal stories. Then we get told that they can't tell everyone's story as if Matthew's story and achievement weren't hugely significant.
As for preparation on NBC's part, I first heard Matthew won at 7 AM on Saturday. NBC Sports is a news organization and part of that means covering breaking news. So NBC, despite having literally hundreds of folks in Beijing somehow couldn't get it together to cover this story? Gee, if Michael Phelps had broken his arm partying something tells me they would've had no problem covering that.
As for celebrating the achievement absolutely. That is why I stayed up way late on Sunday night sorting through pics so we could celebrate this amazing accomplishment. But obviously folks can see it many different ways.
I agree with virtually
I agree with virtually everything you say. It's just a matter of degree, and as you point out, there are multiple viewpoints people can have. My own viewpoint is that some of us have over-emphasized the "slight".
I agree that NBC screwed up in two ways. First, by not being "ready" to give an unexpected development its due. That IS their job. They also almost surely de-emphasized it because Matthew is not American. They perceive the American public, probably accurately, as being overly fixated on American stories. Second, they screwed up by interpreting any mention of Matthew's personal life as "focusing on orientation". As others have pointed out, to show his partner and their kiss is simply doing what they routinely do with others.
Having said all that, my objection is that I think it's not a helpful reaction to read into the story more than is there, or to blow a "bad job" up into a major incident. Based on my past comments and reactions to them, I know there are others here who want to expand stories of this type into more than I think they are. They obviously have a right to their opinions, but my personal view is that this is closer to a mole hill than to a mountain.
Now to be fair
It's not all NBC's fault here.
Not to be mean, but some of this attitude does find it's origins in the fact that so many athletes are closeted.
I don't think that many people (in the First World anyway) are naive enough to believe that Mitcham was the only actual gay man competing in Beijing. He was merely the only openly gay man competing there.
The fact that so many gays do actively hide their orientation perpetuates the notion that homosexuality is a topic best left private, because it's embarassing, even shameful. To a large extent the media is accustomed to the idea that there are gay athletes, celebrities and such and that their sexual orientations are not to be discussed. These public figures themselves prefer it that way. They are actively trying to stay in the closet.
So in that regard I think that the press may not be sure how to handle an out gay male athlete. Mitcham is breaking new ground here. So far as I know he's the first out gay to walk into an Olympics and walk out with a medal hanging around his neck.
At the same time, while he wasn't waving a Pride flag around he was also being very open about Lachlan and their relationship. The Aussie interviews outside the Water Cube show that.
But by the same token I didn't see NBC there when those were filmed, and I don't know that they aired the medal ceremony. Matthew kissing Lachlan was very quick and not at a good camera angle, and there was no real-time commentator voice over.
That means they would have had to go back and add commentary to the footage drawing attention to who Matthew climbed up to see. I don't think NBC was inclined to do that. It was too far outside their range of comfort or interest. They also quite frankly may not have researched him well enough to know.
Satire? Probably. Tacky?
Satire? Probably.
Tacky? Yes.
Maybe I expect too much from AfterElton as a long-time reader but this kind of fake reporting should not be advertised as something real.
Better yet, keep this kind of "reporting" for fakegaynews.com
It's 10 m platform...
It's 10 m platform and 3 m springboard.
Unless you intended to say 10 m springboard (that's quite the springboard!).
Why, oh, why, Can't I keep that straight?
Punching a hole in the Water Cube
With all the spring in Matthew Mitcham's feet and legs (not that I have been obsessively watching the video over and over and over and over) just from the flat surface of the platform, if he had a springboard at that height, he'd go through the roof of an indoor aquatics center! Either that or he'd crash into the stands at the far end of the pool!
But it's AfterElton's job...
...to obsess about coverage, it's what they get paid to do, why the site even exists!
Fortunately, over at CBS and Big Brother, we now have even bigger fish to fry!
Check out my blog: http://radicalsexy.blogspot.com/
Obsessing
haha
Was that a spaghetti cat reference?
Because the ridiculousness of it was pretty evident before that. Funny, even funnier...someone taking this that seriously.
And agree with Joseph, its AEs job to at least question and why not, give a chuckle.
Funny, Michael
For a second though, I thought my reflection in the other article thread was accurate...that SOMEONE of the hundreds of NBC staffers had to have brought it to TPTB's attention about Mitcham prior to their airing the coverage later that night. Come on. No way that didn't happen. So, though your version is hilarious, I'm betting there's a real quite offensive version of this conversation somewhere in-house at NBC.
They'll never own up to it
Likewise James Kirchick
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-kirchick26-2008aug26,0,7463150.story
and Paul Colichman
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08252008/gossip/pagesix/obama_loses_gay_media_king_125923.htm
will never own up to being KAPOS.
Regarding Colichman,
Regarding Colichman, someone's going to have to explain to me how it's possible to rationally support Hillary Clinton, and then refuse to support Obama because he's against gay marriage. HELLO! Hillary's against gay marriage too.
Just for the record, it's more than a bit of hyperbole to call Kirchick and Colichman kapos.
Matt's taking a much deserved vacation from the spotlight
...according to his website. I bet when he returns though he's gonna be swamped with interview requests and NOT just requests from gay media.
I hope he makes tons of money off his new fame...show the world that sponsors won't shy away from gay men and women.
. . .
While there's no doubt that NBC did not do a very good job of covering Matthew Mitcham's historic dive, I have to say that AE has blown this incident out of proportion. It's starting to feel very one-note and whiney.
While it's okay to advocate for something, this is becoming relentless and hitting us over the head with a sledgehammer then driving a 18-wheeler over us.. Also, you run the risk of overexposing Mitcham and his story, which could start a backlash against AE or just make the public lose all sense of support and sympathy for Mitcham.
If I remember correctly, this is the 3rd or 4th article ON THIS SITE regarding Mitcham one way or another. Give it a rest and let us digest it.
So yes, NBC should've covered it more. But now AE, I feel, is covering it TOO much. The incident is over and done with. And with NBC's ridiculous, mind-numbingly, moronic response, don't expect an apology.
AE covered it, we know about it, let's move on. We get the point!
I don't know which I liked
Forever Matthew
I'm not into sports or the Olympics but when I read here that Matthew Mitcham was gay, I had to read, watch and post (drooling was somewhere in there). I, too, am amazed and disheartened by Matthew not getting the coverage he so rightly deserves.
At work I mention Matthew winning the gold and my co-workers did not even know who he was. They were talking about Michael Phelps and his win. I could not believe this. Even the Metro newspaper did not have anything about Matthew.
This goes to show that when it comes to sports gay people are always second class and those homophobic news channels and newspapers will never give us even a crumb.
Like I said, I'm not into sports but I would thoroughly support any gay athlete by watching the sport or TV show highlighting a gay athelete. My favourite show is a gay sports show on OUT TV in Canada called Locker Room. It stars Paul Deboy who starred in Shortbus.
Live Long and Prosper
I guess I'm not really in
I guess I'm not really in any position to comment on NBC, as I'm an Australian, but I thought I'd mention how nice it was that our primary Olympics coverage found time to show Mitcham's win not only live, but as it was late at night, a replay was shown twice the next day. Made me feel all warm inside.
I think it is a big oversight for NBC to not show this historic moment. But it is fair to say that Olympics coverage is going to be self-oriented (nation wise). America is a big nation with a lot of competitors in a lot sporting events, so I can understand if they thought they should cut a competition that had placings for three non-Americans if it hindered their ability to show one where an American placed. God knows the rampant Olympics-inspired sporting nationalism is only just dying down over here.
Keep up the good work Michael
If you guys have any friends in the so-called mainstream press. It's time to call in some favors and get them to cover NBC's big omission.
I noticed sporting news has covered this angle a bit on one of it's blogs.
Raiden251