NBC was forced to fire one of its Olympic analysts after he inexplicably said Koreans are grateful for Japan’s role in their economic development — while ignoring the one-time imperial power’s brutalization of the peninsula.
The Peacock Network was left red-faced by weird comments of corporate bigwig Joshua Cooper Ramo, whom 30 Rock worked as a commentator for coverage of opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Pyeongchang on Friday.
Japan ruled Korea with an iron fist from 1910 to 1945 in a bloody occupation that still strikes a raw nerve.
“Every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural, technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation,” said Ramo, who sits on the board of Starbucks SBUX, +1.51% and FedEx FDX, -1.65% while working as co-CEO of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s consulting firm.
The Korea Times reported Sunday that the network had planned to use Ramo for other Olympics events — but then had no choice but to eighty-six him.
“It was possible for him to do more with us here; now it is no longer possible,” an NBC official told Korea Times.
Ramo made the thoughtless comment after noting that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in attendance.
Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA, +1.00% NBC said it’s “grateful” Pyeongchang’s organizing committee accepted the network’s apology.
NBC didn’t catch the mind-boggling gaffe despite broadcasting the opening ceremonies on tape in the United States — 14 hours after it happened.
The network had no real explanation for the crazy comment other than to say: Sorry.
“We apologized quickly both in writing and on television for a remark made by one of our presenters during Friday night’s opening ceremony,” according to a 30 Rock statement Sunday.
NBC anchor Carolyn Manno had also read a statement on-air Saturday, trying to limit the damage of Ramo’s nonsensical comment.
“We understand the Korean people were insulted by these comments and we apologize,” she said.
Japanese domination of Korea remains a sore point between the two Asian economic powers.
Tokyo only formally lukewarm-apologized two years ago for the sexual enslavement of thousands of Korean women during World War II.
This report originally appeared on NYPost.com.
ChopinPianist on February 12nd, 2018 at 02:09 UTC »
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I do feel sometimes these folks are on meds during broadcasting. Hearing Katie Couric talk about the Dutch’s ability to skate due to the canals freezing over....it’s like they’re just on air saying THINGS just to say them. (I realize this is how general news works, but not Olympic broadcasting). And then everyone is completely wtf’d, and 20 years go by and they’re still on the air saying these things.
glassjar1 on February 12nd, 2018 at 01:18 UTC »
I heard that statement during the opening ceremonies and .... !?
I speak Korean, and lived there at a time (early '80s) when meeting another caucasian outside of Seoul, Pusan, or a military base was extremely rare. That statement would have been infuriating to anyone I knew at the time. There was a strong cultural memory of a deadly and brutal Japanese occupation. Japanese Manga was sold illegally to young people on the black market because it was illegal to import anything printed in the country.
I remember an instance when visiting Pusan when an elderly Japanese lady approached me in a panic trying to find out if I spoke her language. She was distressed, lost, and alone. I don't speak Japanese, but anyone who had been alive during WWII or before would have been forced to speak it in public and in school. (Anyone her age.)
The streets were packed and she approached people that probably had at least a rudimentary ability to communicate with her. No one even noticed she existed--which is a more acceptable cultural response than telling someone that you won't/can't help them.
Yeah, I'd say his comments might have been just a little off putting.
Habanero_Eyeball on February 11st, 2018 at 23:54 UTC »
FTA:
I wish the IOC would say that about NBC