*Simone Manuel has become the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in an individual Olympic swimming event…and the inevitable awkward headlines regarding her pioneering status have already begun.
“Michael Phelps shares historic night with African-American” proclaimed the Mercury News on Twitter Thursday after her win, prompting an Olympic sized backlash.
She’s an Olympic gold medalist. Her name is Simone Manuel. She isn’t just some regular person, @mercnews. pic.twitter.com/QdSvdXM9ML
— Josh Shahryar (@JShahryar) August 12, 2016
Mercury News, which brings the latest Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area news, eventually deleted the tweet…but of course it lived on in memory:
This headline. It is terrible. Her name is Simone Manuel. FYI, Mercury News. https://t.co/VM8vwShJ4e
— Sarah Fidelibus (@verbalcupcake) August 12, 2016
Mercury News’ headline about Simone Manuel is equivalent to Donald Trump asking “Where’s my African-American?” ????
— Karen Datangel (@DatKaren) August 12, 2016
Another Twitter user pointed out: “The most ironic part about how clueless Mercury News is? Simone went to Stanford!”
The Mercury News later tweeted out an apology and new headline:
We apologize for an insensitive headline earlier on a story about Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps’ medal wins. https://t.co/ykWvcddaKf
— Mercury News (@mercnews) August 12, 2016
The Mercury News wasn’t the only outlet targeted by viewers over its treatment of Manuel.
NBC was called out for opting not to air her gold medal ceremony live. Instead, the network continued its taped footage of gymnastics and eventually ran Manuel’s footage after midnight.
Carbonated TV reported: “BBC was the only channel to broadcast the monumental ceremony live. However, once the Internet began shaming NBC for not deeming Manuel’s historic win important enough to show on TV, they aired it — almost an hour later.”
@simone_manuel THEY didn’t give u the highlight u deserved after ur win but WE r proud! ❤️ #SimoneManuel #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/RNIIssnfQl
— Annesha Sudu (@anneshasudu) August 11, 2016
NBC finally showing Simone Manuel ceremony NBC got caught flat footed, with Simone’s win…the BBC footage is much better.
— Nelly B (@psddluva4evah) August 12, 2016
BBC cared more about the First Black American Woman to win a gold medal in swimming in these games than NBC did. https://t.co/EOw4g1VqA3
— Ali Babu Che Johnson (@abcjohnson) August 12, 2016
NBC Sports doesn’t even have the full ceremony on its YouTube channel. (The footage picks up midway through the National Anthem.) Also, it’s forcing folks to view the footage at its YouTube site:
To see Simone Manuel’s full medal ceremony, click here. Thank you BBC and Deadspin.
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