Sports broadcaster Al Trautwig on Monday apologized for controversial TwitterTWTR -0.27 % comments about the adoptive parents of USA gymnastics star Simone Biles.
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In addition to this apology coming a little too late, the veteran sports broadcaster didn’t correct his tweet; he deleted it. Trautwig said Monday, “to set the record straight, Ron and Nellie are Simone’s parents”.
He was criticized by Carrie Goldman, an adoptive mother who writes a blog, “Portrait of an Adoption”. Ron and Nellie are Simone’s grandparents, however they adopted Simone and her sister in 2001 (the women’ mother and father have been preventing drug and alcohol points). Simone calls Ron and Nellie “mom” and “dad”, and Nellie is featured prominently in a Proctor & Gamble “Raising an Olympian” commercial. Goldman said NBC needs to make sure their commentators are educated about adoption. Their birth mother struggled to care for them; he brought them to live permanently with him and wife Nellie on Christmas Eve 2002, when Simone was 5, and the couple legally adopted them the following year. She says the comments deeply disrespect adopted children and parents.
The American women are heavily favoured to repeat as gold medallists in gymnastics in Rio de Janeiro – but one of the three Americans in the all-around gymnastics competition will miss out on the final.
They may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents.
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