Daily Wire host makes Jordan Chiles bronze medal controversy about race: “Affirmative action is now in the Olympics”
Michael Knowles: “They had to take it away from the white girl and they had to give it to the Black girl”
Published
Citation From the August 12, 2024, edition of The Daily Wire's The Michael Knowles Show
MICHAEL KNOWLES (HOST): There was a gal who won. She won the bronze medal, this Romanian gal. And her name is, Voinea, Sabrina Voinea. And so her score was up there, you know, and she won the bronze and she did a good job in gymnastics. And then they just changed her score. She's already so excited that she won. They changed her score, and they gave it to – and this is important for the context, she's an extremely white girl – and they gave it to a Black girl, Chiles – something Chiles. And so – Jordan Chiles. So Jordan Chiles, Black, ends up keeping her same score. Sabrina Voinea loses a tenth of a point or something like that, for allegedly stepping out. You know, she placed her foot in the wrong place during her set, and so now she can't – she loses the bronze, and she runs away crying head in hands. You know, it's obviously so awful and humiliating. She just made her dreams come true, and now she's gotta run away. And then when you look at the tape, you realize she never stepped out. Her foot was exactly where it was supposed to be the whole time. You can play the tape.
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I'm not saying it didn't come close, but it was fine. They took that point away for no reason whatsoever. But the reason that the races matter here is this was the podium that was hailed by all the Olympics, you know, PR flacks as the all-Black podium. It was so historic. So, of course, they had to take it away from the white girl and they had to give it to the Black girl. Now I'm an American, so I don't, I guess – I don't really care about the Olympics at all. But I guess I don't mind that we get an extra medal or something, but it's just so obviously unfair. So I do care about it. You know, it's really unfair. The 17 year-old Romanian girl had been working for this her whole life and she had it taken away from her. And the reason that – maybe it was an honest mistake by the judges, maybe it wasn't an honest mistake either. But even if it were, the reason it's not gonna be reversed – or it certainly wouldn't be reversed during the Olympics is because of the historic Black podium.
Now affirmative action is not just in schools, it's not just in places of employment, affirmative action is now in sports, affirmative action is now in the Olympics. That's amazing. You get however many extra points on your SAT if you check the right racial box. And now I guess you get an extra tenth of a point, quarter of a point, half a point, who knows, in Olympics gymnastics.