An par- ed penned by U. S. Sen. John Kennedy has been deleted from eight USA Today– affiliated Louisiana papers for admitted “inflammatory” language toward trans players.
On May 11, the Louisiana Republican’s part ran in eight newspapers owned by USA Today’s family business, Gannett. These URLs today contain the speech,” This content was removed because it did not meet our editor requirements.”
The College Fix’s requests for comment have not been responded to by USA Today.
National Review on Tuesday republished the recollection- holed part, stating:” We are republishing it so that readers may judge its explanation for themselves”.
The Republican was informed that his op-ed attacking biological males playing children’s sports contained’inflammatory’ statement that did n’t join company criteria, according to emails obtained by Fox News, which initially reported the story.
Kennedy criticized the recent rise in trans athletes in high school and college sports in the op-ed, drawing comparisons to Zion Williamson’s accession to middle class basketball.
” Men and women do n’t compete for the same reasons. Trans activists want sport institutions to ignore these glaring physical differences, even if doing so will hurt genetic girls, according to Kennedy.
Therefore, Kennedy blasted a pattern of well-known trans athletes who compete in women’s sports, most importantly former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.
” These campaigners allowed the 554th- ranked female swimmer, next known as William Thomas, to become the NCAA Division I regional hero named Lia Thomas”, the ops- ed stated.
” Many fair-minded people reject the notion that women and girls who work hard to develop their athletic abilities may sacrifice their opportunities, protection, and health to promote gender engagement. I’m one of them”, Kennedy wrote.
Three days later, USA Today pulled Kennedy’s item. Michael McCarter, Gannett’s vice president of criteria and morals, informed Fox News that the publication abided by their decision to remove Kennedy’s article despite reader complaints.
” Sen. John Kennedy’s submitted viewpoint column did not meet our honest instructions, which state we did treat people with respect. After further evaluation, our newspaper team removed the row from our site. Sen. Kennedy has been given the opportunity to change his speech, no his point of view, in order to follow our requirements, McCarter told Fox News.
The choice to remove the op- ed seems to have originated from the Shreveport Times, a Gannett- owned regular newspaper based in Shreveport, Louisiana. The paper’s standards department took issue with Kennedy’s use of the terms “biological male” and “biological female”, which the editor claimed was not in accordance with Associated Press guidelines.
We would be happy to take the Senator’s request into consideration in a statement to Fox News, Shreveport Times executive editor Mindy Castile wrote in a statement.
Kennedy has stated regarding the incident:
The USA Today Network appears to dislike the way I express myself. They believe they are the speech police. Drunk on certainty and virtue, they think they are our moral teacher. This perspective is the cause of how many Americans no longer trust the media. The media wo n’t be able to regain that confidence until they return to neutrality rather than advocacy. Most people do n’t support allowing biological men to participate in women’s sports because they think that will bastardize sports, skew the results, and hurt women. Other people disagree. Gannett should merely report the two sides, and not attempt to silence the position it disagrees with.
Sen. Kennedy’s op-ed was removed, but this is not the first time USA Today has been accused of sexism on gender issues.
When he criticised an article that used the term “pregnant people” to refer to pregnant women, then-USA Today editor David Mastio was targeted in June 2022. In response to the headline, Mastio tweeted “people who are pregnant are also women”.
Mastio was chided by the company’s LGBTQ Employee Resource Group and the “diversity” committee of the Gannett- owned paper. He was also demoted from editor to columnist.
The company is being staffed by Gannett’s top editors and publishers, who all have a “woke” ideology that is alien to the values of the majority of its readers, according to Mastio, who wrote in 2022.
MORE: A conservative college professor is being investigated for racism after accusing a black student of plagiarism.
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
