A prominent sports writer for ESPN caused a stir by saying he was unable to enjoy the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics because the sight of the American flag reminded him of 'the rise of white nationalism' and the January 6 Capitol riots.
Bill Rhoden made the comments on CBS This Morning on Monday, saying: 'My favorite part of the Olympics was always going to the stadium for the opening ceremonies. I love the opening ceremonies, the march of countries. Then I just realized, you know, man, particularly after these last four years, I had it wrong.'
Rhoden referred to an article he wrote for the New York Times during the 2012 London Olympics, titled: ‘Opening Ceremony Brings Out the Good Side of Nationalism,’ in which he argued about the benefits of team USA displaying its pride at the global event.
Speaking with CBS, however, he said, 'Nationalism is not good. We've seen the rise of white nationalism. Nationalism is not good. And also, this whole idea — I keep thinking back on the Capitol riots, and I saw a lot of, you know, US flags. So now when I see the flag and the flag raised, what — what America am I living in?'
ESPN writer Bill Rhoden caused a stir by saying he was unable to enjoy the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics because the sight of the American flag reminded him of 'the rise of white nationalism' and the January 6 Capitol riots
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Rhoden appeared on CBS This Morning on Monday, where he said the American flags on display at the Tokyo Olympics reminded him of those at the January 6 riots at the Capitol
Rhoden spoke of the American basketball team losing 83-76 to France on Sunday, halting its chance at winning the gold medal, and called it a humbling experience for the team.
He said: 'I just think that these Olympics should be a time of soul searching and winning sometimes is antithetic to soul searching.’
Twitter users were quick to respond to Rhoden's statements, with many outraged with his statements about the flag.
One user, named Ben Fiscus, said 'It was very disappointing to hear you say what you did about the flag. What happened at the capital was wrong and terrible
