Hell froze over this morning on The View when Meghan McCain and her ideological opposite Sunny Hostin joined forces to condemn the International Olympic Committee's ban on Black Lives Matter apparel. In a rare moment, Hostin and McCain agreed that the decree amounts to telling athletes to "shut up and play," and they skewered the "garbage" Olympic Committee for violating their freedom of speech and expression.
Hostin has long advocated athletes' right to protest in any way they see fit, so it was no surprise that she was first to speak on the Hot Topic. "When it comes to sports and athletes and social justice, that is a movement that's been going on for a long time," she said, citing Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists at the 1968 Olympics and Muhammad Ali's advocacy for racial justice as examples. "This, to me, felt like a direct assault on freedom of expression on Black athletes, in particular, because they took issue specifically with 'Black Lives Matter,' with that term."
"In a time of political awareness, where you have not only people protesting what happened to George Floyd here in the United States but all over the [world], this is a real time of a civil rights movement that is being shared by everyone," continued Hostin. "For Americans that are saying, 'I won't take the vaccine because it is my right, my freedom to not take the vaccine,' I want to see that same energy for athletes' rights to free speech and protest."
#OLYMPICS BAN “BLACK LIVES MATTER” APPAREL: The Olympic Committee confirmed rules for the summer games which included forbidding athletes from wearing #BlackLivesMatter clothing, saying it violates their ban on “political, religious or racial propaganda” — the co-hosts react. pic.twitter.com/DLI0YU0y9T
— The View (@TheView) May 6, 2021
McCain agreed, as "sports is innately political," and it's impossible to argue otherwise. "The Olympic Committee is garbage for a lot of different reasons," she said. "The Olympic Committee has chosen Beijing as its 2022 location, where we all know China has been exterminating and putting Uighur Muslims in concentration camps and slave labor for years now."
"The international community doesn't care that a modern genocide is going on with Muslims in China, and we, in return, are choosing to put our Olympics in that country and reward that and given them all the capital and money and attention that will go [along with it], while a modern genocide is taking place," McCain continued. "So as far as I'm concerned, the Olympic Committee is garbage and until they start paying attention and move the Olympics from Beijing -- which, by the way, President Biden, you have punted on answering that question. I would love to know if you agree on that. But I would just like some international attention on mass genocide that's going on in China right now."
With no clear response to McCain decision to shift the segment's tone (and considerably, at that), Whoopi Goldberg opted for one of her "Okay?" moments. "Oh, god, we love international attention on genocide going on all over the country -- all over the world right now," said the longtime moderator. "My god, yes."
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Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.
TOPICS: The View, Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin, International Olympic Committee