Google demonetized Pierce Morgan’s column in which he criticized U.S. gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to pull out of some events at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
The story: Morgan announced this week that Google demonetized his column about Biles by blocking all ads on it. The ban came eight hours after the column was published, he said.
Google said it found “some issues that are policy violations that you must fix” and that his column featured “dangerous or derogatory content.”
Morgan insists that he did not break any of the rules outlined in Google’s policy against “dangerous or derogatory content.”
“By Google’s own yardstick, I did nothing wrong,” Morgan wrote. “It’s hard not to escape the conclusion that the company only intervened with the Biles column because I was criticising a black woman and woke Twitter said that was racist without any evidence to support that claim. And if that is true, it’s utterly shameful.”
He then slammed Google’s move, which he described as a “big deal,” and said it sends a message that the “only opinion they will tolerate on their platform is that Simone Biles IS a hero for quitting.”
“Google’s punitive action also represents a disgraceful attack on free speech. In a democracy, I’m allowed to say that Simone Biles wasn’t a hero for quitting,” he wrote.
How we got here: Biles drew national attention after she announced that she is withdrawing from some gymnastics events at the Olympics to deal with mental health issues.
The decision prompted mixed reactions, with some praising Biles for bringing attention to the pressure athletes feel at big sports events but others accused her of abandoning her teammates and the country she represents.
Among the critics was Morgan.
Morgan’s column: Morgan slammed Biles’ decision to withdraw from the Olympics in a column published in the Daily Mail last week.
“Sorry Simone Biles, but there’s nothing heroic or brave about quitting because you’re not having ‘fun’ – you let down your team-mates, your fans and your country,” Morgan said in the headline.
Morgan praised Biles as the “squad’s most successful Olympian” in his column and said he was surprised when “she quit.”
“The world’s greatest ever gymnast, a woman who proudly told me how she fought back after making big mistakes to win Gold, just gave up at the first hurdle of these Olympics,” he wrote. “She left her team to fight on without their leader and supreme motivational champion, and rather than win the Gold medal they were hot favourites to win, they came second to the Russians.”
He specifically took issue with Biles’s statement that she wasn’t having “fun.”
“You’re not just at these Games for yourself, Simone,” Morgan argued. “You are part of Team USA, representing the United States of America, and hundreds of millions of American people watching back home, not to mention all the sponsors who’ve paid huge sums to support you.”
“Get back out there Simone, and don’t get sucked into all the weak woke failure-loving Twitter nonsense – you’re too great a champion to be labelled a quitter,” he concluded.
Worth noting: Biles later said that she would compete in the beam finale, where she won bronze. In response, Morgan tweeted that she took his advice not to listen to “snowflake Twitter.”
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