In a recent appearance on Fox News, boxing legend-turned grill salesman George Foreman explained why he felt Olympic athletes shouldn't use their time in the global spotlight to make political statements or protest.
According to Foreman, it all goes back to the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, when U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos donned black gloves and raised their fists in the Black Power Salute.
Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images
In an interview with Fox News talking head Sean Hannity, Foreman connected that politically charged gesture to the infamous hostage crisis and massacre that occurred four years later at the Munich Olympic Games, when members of a Palestinian terrorist group abducted and killed multiple members of the Israeli Olympic Team.
In his conversation with Hannity about athletes' recent tendency to use their platform to protest issues like police violence and human rights abuses, Foreman, who himself won gold for heavyweight boxing at those same 1968 Mexico City Games, made some leaps of logic.
"No good has ever come out of it,"
"I remember John Carlos and Tommie Smith. I don't know how dedicated they were, but they put on a demonstration that's still talked about. It was so great that the world saw it and they went down to Germany and killed those kids representing Israel."
"That's what demonstration will get you. It shouldn't be in sports — should take it out. Let us go over there and have a good time and stay out of politics because it's a dangerous thing."
People who heard about Foreman's comments were confused, to say the least.
With the International Olympic Committee announcing slightly relaxed restrictions on athletes' protest demonstrations during the Tokyo games, Foreman had better get used to seeing them for the next couple weeks.
@chandlerparry/Threads
