Bill Rhoden serves as a sportswriter for ESPN. He has been covering the competitive games at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which is taking place in the summer of 2021, delayed one year due to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Rhoden has been covering sports for years but was shocked to see so many American flags at the Tokyo Olympics and found them offensive because they reminded him of the Capitol Riots that were led by Trump supporters.
Usually, the Olympics are a chance for Americans to come together to share their pride in being American. However, progressives on the Left fear that conservatives have tried to usurp Old Glory for their Political Party’s gain. And legendary sportswriter Bill Rhoden believes there are far too many American flags flying in Tokyo for the Olympic games this summer.
In an interview, Rhoden explained why he did not enjoy seeing so many Americans flying the American flag.
“I love the opening ceremonies, march of countries,” Rhoden said. “Then I realized, you know, man, particularly after these last four years, I had it wrong. Nationalism is not good. We’ve seen the rise of White nationalism. Nationalism is not good.”
“And also, this whole idea — I keep thinking back on the Capitol riots, and I saw a lot of, you know, U.S. flags,” he added. “So now when I see the flag and the flag raised, what — what America am I living in? You know, are the ones that don’t think, you know, we should be here?”
Rhoden was speaking on behalf of African Americans when explaining his view on seeing the American flags at the Olympic games. Rhoden did not clarify whether or not he feared that some people who were on Team USA’s Olympic delegation held racist views against Blacks and people of color.
Rhoden also made some controversial remarks about the USA basketball team and said it was good that they lost to France because it would help humble the players and America as a whole.
“I think we should be humbled. You know, I mean, this whole last year in this country — it’s about entitlement and privilege,” Rhoden said. “Nobody epitomizes that more than basketball.”
The legendary sportswriter later added that the Olympics “should be a time of soul searching and winning sometimes is antithetic to soul searching.”
He also felt that the Olympics should not have happened this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the games, athletes are testing positive for the virus and are forced to step away from the competition when they received a positive COVID-19 test.
Meanwhile, other news sources are identifying the American flag as a divisive symbol. In an earlier report from the New York Times, the popular news source identified Old Glory as failing to unify Americans like it once did. There was also a report from New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay who explained that she saw a lot of American flags during her visit to Long Island. She thought seeing so many flags were “disturbing.”