Fox News: This Blog by Our…Uh…Executive Editor Does NOT Represent Us

Imagine an opinion column in such bad taste that even Fox News decides to take it down. That is exactly what happened to an op-ed by John Moody, who just happens to be the network’s executive editor and executive vice president. On Thursday, Moody published a get-off-my-lawn-unless-you’re-white-and-straight screed called “In Olympics, let’s focus on the winner of the race — not the race of the winner.”

Yes, in response to the U.S. Olympic team’s increased representation of black (10 out of 243 athletes, according to the Washington Post), Asian American (also 10), and openly gay (TWO!!) people, Moody wrote this stunning bit:

Unless it’s changed overnight, the motto of the Olympics, since 1894, has been “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” It appears the U.S. Olympic Committee would like to change that to “Darker, Gayer, Different.” If your goal is to win medals, that won’t work.

If anything it makes for an iconic graphic T-shirt text for, say, a gay person of color. Or maybe it’s an alternative slogan for The Dark Knight? Anyway, it’s certainly not out of character for Fox News. One way to know it’s not out of character is that the person who wrote it is a high-ranking executive at Fox News. Nonetheless, the network pulled the atrocity from its site and pretended Moody was someone it had just met, saying in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter:

“John Moody’s column does not reflect the views or values of FOX News and has been removed.”

So the words of the executive vice president and executive editor of the company don’t reflect the view of the company? The opinion of a guy who helped hone the voice of Fox News doesn’t really fall in line with the Fox News ethos, huh? Cool, good to know.