According to the Associated Press, Friday night's ceremony showcasing the "vibrant and influential role of the French LGBTQ+ community" was "an unprecedented display of inclusivity," even though millions found the transgender mockery of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" offensive.
Immediately following the ceremony, Mississippi-based C Spire announced it was pulling all advertising from the entire event – a response the American Family Association was quick to applaud with an appreciative action alert.
The ceremony also drew scorn from Catholic bishops, politicians, and others, including billionaire Elon Musk. And within 24 hours, approximately 85,000 Parisians were left in the dark due to an unexplained blackout.
An Olympic spokesperson has since offered a weak apology for the misstep, but Tim Graham of the Media Research Center thinks Paris organizers and the International Olympic Committee would still be under fire if Muhammad had been mocked in such a way.
"With the Muslims, they don't even want an image of Muhammad," he notes. "We all know how the French feel about the Muslims; they're welcoming in all kinds of them."
As for the global news agency's positive coverage – echoed by most of the mainstream media – Graham says that is barely news at all.
"AP's motto is still 'Advancing the Power of Facts,' but I think when you read many AP articles, they're very badly disguised opinion pieces," the watchdog tells AFN. "From watching the NBC version of these events … they seemed unsure of what was happening, and they were trying to praise it for being inclusive. They just know that they paid billions and billions of dollars for this Olympics, and they didn't want it to go up in smoke."
In short, he thinks NBC passed on the criticism to protect their investment.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
