Ranting about the Olympics, Fox co-host appears to confuse Japan and China

Morgan Ortegus denounces “genocide Olympics,” even though 2020 games are to be played in Japan; the 2022 Olympics are scheduled for Beijing

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the July 13, 2021, edition of Fox News’ Outnumbered

MORGAN ORTAGUS (FORMER SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT): You know, there's so much going on around these Olympics — I like to call them the genocide Olympics, anyway. I'm still on the team that I’m not even sure that we should be competing, because there is an ongoing genocide in Xinjiang.

So, if we are going to go to a country, if we are going to compete and have American athletes there, in a country that's committing a genocide, even more important, Harris—

HARRIS FAULKNER (FOX NEWS ANCHOR): Wow.

ORTAGUS: To have the freedom of the American flag fully represented.

Ortagus was previously a State Department spokesperson during the Trump administration after first working at Fox News. While this year’s Summer Olympics being held in Tokyo, Japan, next year’s Winter Olympics are rescheduled to be held in Beijing, China, which has attracted controversy over the Chinese government’s horrific human rights abuses.

Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner also did not spot Ortagus’ error.