NBC’s Katie Couric was slammed across social media for saying Dutch successes in Olympic speed skating were because skating is an “important mode of transport” in their country.
“It’s probably not a news flash to tell you the Dutch are really, really good at speed skating… ‘Why are they so good?’ you may be asking yourself,” Couric mused during Friday’s opening ceremony. “Because skating is an important mode of transportation in a city like Amsterdam.”
She said Amsterdam “has lots of canals that can freeze in winter. So, for as long as the canals have existed, the Dutch have skated on them to get from place to place, to race each other and also to have fun.”
You just can’t make this up.
NBC opening ceremony coverage. Katie Couric talks about why The Netherlands is so good at speed skating as The Netherlands enters the stadium.
And this folks is why Americans are less bright about the rest of the world as they spread fake news! pic.twitter.com/7YC5deTl2w
— Jos Duijvestein 🇳🇱 (@JosDuijvestein) February 10, 2018
Couric made the comment on Friday but it has gained attention as the Olympics have unfolded. One video tweeted by a non-verified user with less than 400 followers now has over 1.2 million views. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]NBC, the only network on which Americans can watch the Olympics, has been forced to issue an apology to the entire nation of South Korea after its anchors, Mike Tirico and Katie Couric, and its Asian correspondent, Joshua Cooper Ramo, accidentally insulted the Korean people during their Opening Ceremonies broadcast.
The trio was discussing visiting Olympic dignitaries, when they settled on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to Yahoo News.
“In the booth with Mike Tirico and Katie Couric, NBC Asian correspondent Joshua Cooper Ramo said that ‘every Korean’ respected Japan for their recent achievements as a nation, insinuating that South Korea had forgotten about the 35 brutal years of Japanese rule that ended after World War II,” Yahoo reported.
There is a well-known and longstanding hostility between the two nations, and Twitter was merciless, as Koreans excoriated Ramo for his cultural insensitivity. – READ MORE