Two radio and television personalities, Bo Dietl and Mark Simone, appeared on FOX News’ segment “Sports Court,” where they shared an extremely sexist and unrealistic opinion on the female Olympic athletes and their appearance.
Mark Simone, a radio personality on WOR in New York City, started off the conversation by saying this:
“The whole point of the Olympics, the whole reason for this training, for this work to get there, is product endorsements.”
Though this is far from the truth, as athletes compete for a wide variety of reasons, such as for personal gain and achievement and to make their country proud in general, it’s very shallow to suggest that someone has dedicated their entire young, and sometimes adult life, to training for a sport so they can represent a brand.
The popularity of many Olympic athletes dwindles soon after the last Olympic games they compete in, meaning their entire life isn’t centered on their appearances and endorsements because they can’t survive on that once their athletic career comes to an end.
What’s worse is that Bo Dietl, a former NYC detective and current on-air pundit, went on to say this about the female athletes in the Olympics:
“Why should I have to look at some chick’s zits? Why not a little blush on her lips and cover those zits!”
When Tamara Holder clarified that the question she asked was whether women need makeup to feel empowered and if young girls should feel the need to wear makeup because their favorite athletes are, she was met with vague answers in which the men continuously pointed out that she herself was wearing makeup.
If you’re confused about why these specific men were asked to comment on this topic, seeing as neither has a strong background in either sports or treating women fairly, you’re not the only one. Holder introduced the two men as people with “no shortage of opinions,” and that was basically the only qualification they had.
Holder did seem a bit irked with their outlandish opinions and off-topic responses to her questions, but she did start the conversation with “the old adage: sex sells,” so it was already off to an odd start when Dietl and Simone began speaking.
Dietl has had a history of making sexist, xenophobic, and racist opinions in the past, and that may be why FOX has not renewed his contract to return to the show.
To be fair, Dietl did extend his thoughts about Olympic athletes wearing makeup to men as well, even saying, “look at our swimmer there, that guy, what’s that skinny guy, the guy that won 18 gold medals” (Michael Phelps) should wear makeup at the podium.
They ended the conversation by posing this intellectual question:
“Would you put money behind a gal that won the gold medal that looks like a washed out rag?”
But perhaps the real question is, would you force any Olympic athlete to worry about how they look while they compete for the world title in their sport?
What are your thoughts on this topic? Please share, like, and comment on this article!
This article (These Men Argued That Olympic Women Need To Wear Makeup For THIS Dumb Reason) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com
