Reporter Nico Hines draws widespread criticism for potentially putting closeted athletes at risk, and editors now admit they got it wrong

An American news website has taken down, after sustained criticism, a “deplorable” piece that allegedly outed gay Olympic athletes.

The Daily Beast, an American news and entertainment website, published an “exposé” on Thursday about the ease with which dates with Olympic athletes could be arranged on Grindr, the gay hook-up app, in Rio de Janeiro.

The piece, originally titled “I Got Three Grindr Dates in an Hour in the Olympic Village”, quickly drew criticism of reporter Nico Hines for voyeurism and potentially putting closeted athletes at risk.

In one case, Hines gave the height, weight, nationality and language of an athlete from a country where discrimination and violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community is widespread.

That Hines – who identifies himself as The Daily Beast’s London correspondent and a former writer for The Times on Twitter – is a heterosexual and married father of one, was seen to compound the tastelessness of the article.

According to OutSports, only 48 athletes at Rio are publicly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex – a tiny fraction of the 10,500 competitors, yet the most ever at an Olympic Games.

One, Rafaela Silva, who represented Brazil in judo, discussed her sexuality for the first time in an interview only after she won the country its first gold medal on Monday.

Rio 2016's record-breaking haul: 42 condoms per athlete Read more

According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s figures in June, same-sex sexual contact is illegal in 73 countries and punishable by death in 13 countries.



Amini Fonua, a two-time Olympic swimmer from Tonga who is publicly out, said on Twitter the piece was “deplorable”.

Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) As an out gay athlete from a country that is still very homophobic, @thedailybeast ought to be ashamed #deplorable https://t.co/qzS9rDFJwx

In a series of tweets directly to Hines, Fonua accused him of ruining people’s lives “without any good reason but clickbait journalism”. One of the men Hines referred to in his story is only 18 years old, Fonua said.

Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) @NicoHines Some of these people you just outed are my FRIENDS. With family and lives that are forever going to be affected by this

“Seriously fuck off with your str8 white male privilege preying on closeted people who can’t live in their truth yet. U ruin us. ... @thedailybeast & @NicoHines don’t realize this drags us gays in sports back 10 steps. You invaded both privacy & people’s truth. Fuck you!!”

Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) Imagine the one space you can feel safe, the one space you're able to be yourself, ruined by a straight person who thinks it's all a joke?

Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) No straight person will ever know the pain of revealing your truth, to take that away is just... I can't. It literally brings me to tears 😭😭

Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) It is still illegal to be gay in Tonga, and while I'm strong enough to be me in front of the world, not everybody else is. Respect that.

Dan Savage, a high-profile gay commentator and an editor at Seattle’s The Stranger, was scathing of Hines’ piece on Twitter and called on the Daily Beast to take it down.



He also suggested that Hines’ press credentials should be revoked.

Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) So... straight "journalist" for @thedailybeast probably gonna get some gay guy killed with this piece.https://t.co/4LlHZ75uzl

Tyler Oakley, a gay social media personality, said something similar, accusing Hines and the Daily Beast of treating same-sex-attracted people as “zoo animals”.

Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) shame on @NicoHines/@thedailybeast. LGBTQ+ people deserve respect. we are not your zoo animals. so infuriating. https://t.co/wgCXgTtFyU

The Daily Beast and Hines have been contacted by Guardian Australia for comment.



Several Twitter users observed that changes – including the removal of identifying details – were made to the piece before the criticism was publicly addressed by the Daily Beast.

Mary Beth Williams, an editor at Salon, observed “more quiet editing of original identifying details”.

Long after the initial criticism was first made, the Daily Beast editor-in-chief, John Avlon, tweeted that the Beast had “heard readers’ concerns” and that the story had been updated and retitled “The Other Olympic Sport in Rio: Swiping”.

John Avlon (@JohnAvlon) The Beast has heard readers’ concerns about an Olympic sex app story; we've updated + I've added an editor’s note. https://t.co/0fRVKy41Hi

Avlon began a lengthy editor’s note at the end of the story by reiterating the Daily Beast’s commitment to “full equality and equal treatment for LGBT people around the world”.

Elena Delle Donne, US Olympic basketball star, reveals she is gay Read more

It apologised for “potentially jeopardising” athletes’ safety and said all descriptions of the men and women’s profiles had been removed.

“The concept for the piece was to see how dating and hook-up apps were being used in Rio by athletes. It just so happened that Nico had many more responses on Grindr than apps that cater mostly to straight people, and so he wrote about that.”

The response was seen by many, including Fonua, to be inadequate given the edited piece remained on the Daily Beast.

Amini Fonua (@AminiFonua) @thedailybeast TAKE THE ARTICLE DOWN IMMEDIATELY. I don't care what changes have been made, take it down NOW.

The article was eventually removed late on Thursday night, 12 hours after Avlon tweeted about the amendments. The URL now redirects to a “note from the editors” concluding, “We were wrong. We will do better.”

It remains unclear whether Hines pitched the article or was commissioned to write it, but the sex lives of athletes at the Olympic Village is a source of persistent curiosity at every Games, and Rio’s “record-breaking haul” of condoms was widely reported on last month.

Reports of the provision of 350,000 condoms and 100,000 female condoms – equivalent to 42 per athlete, plus 175,000 packets of lubricant – prompted the former Olympic rower Zac Purchase to clarify of the Olympic Village: “It’s not some sexualised cauldron of activity.”

Tinder, the dating and hook-up app, reported that use had “skyrocketed” in Rio de Janeiro – matches in the Olympic Village were up 129% in the weekend after the Games began.