Tag: Apologizes

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World News

Broadcaster Apologizes for ‘Inappropriate’ Photos Aired Throughout Olympic Parade

Broadcaster Apologizes for ‘Inappropriate’ Images Aired During Olympic Parade

For television broadcasters worldwide, the Parade of Nations during the opening of the Olympics can be an exercise in diplomacy and global awareness, with the media resorting to trivia nuggets, athlete profiles, and geopolitical considerations to fill airtime.

However, a South Korean broadcaster has apologized for its selection of “inappropriate” images that appeared alongside the names of several countries during its coverage of the opening ceremony on Friday.

The images were criticized by viewers who said they were offensive or perpetuated stereotypes.

When the contingent of Olympic athletes from Italy entered the Tokyo Olympic Stadium for the Parade of Nations, the broadcaster MBC broadcast a photo of a pizza.

For Norway? A piece of salmon.

Then there was Ukraine, which the station reminded viewers of where the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred, complete with a photo of the doomed power plant.

“The pictures and captions should make it easier for viewers to quickly understand the countries of entry during the opening ceremony,” said MBC in a statement published on Twitter on Saturday. “However, we admit that there has been a lack of consideration for the affected countries and the inspection has not been thorough enough. It is an unforgivable mistake. “

Raphael Rashid, a freelance journalist from Seoul, shared the pictures on Twitter.

“When Haitian athletes entered the stadium, the screen said, ‘The political situation is obscured by the assassination of the president,'” Rashid wrote. “When Syrian athletes walked in, it was said, ‘Rich underground resources; a civil war that has been going on for 10 years. ‘”

For Romania, the station used a picture of Count Dracula. And for the Marshall Islands, it found that it had once been a nuclear test site for the United States.

When it was Malaysia’s turn in the Parade of Nations, MBC showed a graph showing that country’s coronavirus vaccination rate along with its gross domestic product.

In its statement, MBC said it would look into the process of how the images and their accompanying captions were selected and verified.

“We will also thoroughly review the production system of sports programs in order to avoid similar accidents in the future,” said the broadcaster.

The Korea Herald reported that this was not the first time MBC went wrong during the Olympics.

In 2008, according to the news website, the station was fined by the Korea Communications Commission for using its captions to belittle countries participating in the Beijing Olympics. The station described Sudan as an unstable country with a long civil war and Zimbabwe as a country with deadly inflation.

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Entertainment

Violinist Apologizes for ‘Culturally Insensitive’ Remarks About Asians

Violinist Apologizes for ‘Culturally Insensitive’ Remarks About Asians

A master class by the renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman was supposed to be the highlight of a recent virtual symposium hosted by the Juilliard School.

Instead, Zukerman angered many of the roughly 100 students and teachers in the class on Friday when he invoked racist stereotypes about Asians, leading Juilliard to decide not to share a video of his master class afterward with participants, as it had initially intended.

At one point, Zukerman told a pair of students of Asian descent that their playing was too perfect and that they needed to add soy sauce, according to two participants in the class. At another point, in trying to encourage the students to play more lyrically, he said he understood that people in Korea and Japan do not sing, participants said. His comments were reported earlier by Violinist.com, a music site.

Zukerman’s remarks were widely denounced by musicians and teachers, with many saying they reinforced ugly stereotypes facing artists of Asian descent in the music industry.

Juilliard tried to distance itself from the matter, describing Zukerman as a guest instructor and saying his “insensitive and offensive cultural stereotypes” did not represent the school’s values. Zukerman apologized Monday for what he called his “culturally insensitive” comments.

“In Friday’s master class, I was trying to communicate something to these two incredibly talented young musicians, but the words I used were culturally insensitive,” he said in a statement. “I’m writing to the students personally to apologize. I am sorry that I made anyone uncomfortable. I cannot undo that, but I offer a sincere apology. I learned something valuable from this, and I will do better in the future.”

Asian and Asian American performers have long dealt with racist tropes that their playing is too technical or unemotional. A wave of anti-Asian hate in the United States in recent months has heightened concerns about the treatment of Asian performers.

Zukerman is a celebrated violinist and conductor whose career has spanned five decades. He was the biggest name at the Juilliard event, known as the Starling-DeLay Violin Symposium, which is focused on violin teaching and attracts promising young musicians, many of them teenagers, to take part in master classes.

He made the remarks on Friday while offering feedback to a pair of sisters of Japanese descent.

After the sisters played a duet, Zukerman told them they should try bringing more of a singing quality to their playing, according to participants in the class. When he said that he knew Koreans did not sing, one of the sisters interrupted to say that they were not Korean, adding that they were partly of Japanese descent. Zukerman replied by saying that people in Japan did not sing either, according to participants.

His remarks prompted an outcry among Asian and Asian American musicians, with some sharing stories on social media about their experiences dealing with stereotypes and bias.

A Rise in Anti-Asian Attacks

A torrent of hate and violence against people of Asian descent around the United States began last spring, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

    • Background: Community leaders say the bigotry was fueled by President Donald J. Trump, who frequently used racist language like “Chinese virus” to refer to the coronavirus.
    • Data: The New York Times, using media reports from across the country to capture a sense of the rising tide of anti-Asian bias, found more than 110 episodes since March 2020 in which there was clear evidence of race-based hate.
    • Underreported Hate Crimes: The tally may be only a sliver of the violence and harassment given the general undercounting of hate crimes, but the broad survey captures the episodes of violence across the country that grew in number amid Mr. Trump’s comments.
    • In New York: A wave of xenophobia and violence has been compounded by the economic fallout of the pandemic, which has dealt a severe blow to New York’s Asian-American communities. Many community leaders say racist assaults are being overlooked by the authorities.
    • What Happened in Atlanta: Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were killed in shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta on March 16. A Georgia prosecutor said that the Atlanta-area spa shootings were hate crimes, and that she would pursue the death penalty against the suspect, who has been charged with murder.

Hyeyung Yoon, a violinist who last year founded Asian Musical Voices of America, an alliance of artists, said Zukerman’s remarks represented a type of thinking that “dehumanizes a group of people without actually getting to know who they are.”

“It’s so prevalent in classical music, but also prevalent in the larger society,” she said in an interview.

Keiko Tokunaga, a violinist, said she and many other Asian musicians had heard comments similar to Zukerman’s.

“We are often described as emotionless or we just have no feelings and we are just technical machines,” she said in an interview. “And that is very offensive, because we are as human as anyone else on the planet.”

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Business

Newsmax Apologizes for False Claims of Vote-Rigging by a Dominion Worker

Newsmax Apologizes for False Claims of Vote-Rigging by a Dominion Employee

Conservative Newsmax officially apologized on Friday for spreading unsubstantiated allegations that a Dominion Voting Systems employee tampered with voting machines to sink President Donald J. Trump’s re-election bid last year.

In a statement posted on its website, Newsmax admitted that it had “found no evidence” of the conspiracy theories put forward by Mr Trump’s lawyers, supporters and others that employee Eric Coomer had Dominion voting machines, voting software and the finals manipulated. When voting, the vote counts.

“On behalf of Newsmax, we apologize for any harm our reporting on the allegations against Dr. Coomer may have caused Dr. Coomer and his family,” the statement said.

Dominion’s director of product strategy and security, Mr. Coomer, sued Newsmax and several pro-Trump figures in December after being flatly defamed in the right-wing media arena. In his lawsuit, which also cites the Trump campaign, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and the One America News Network, Mr. Coomer alleged that he had damaged his reputation, emotional distress, fear, and loss of earnings by making false allegations the entire project would have spread Trump’s world, which he planned to rig the election.

Among the allegations was an allegation that Mr. Coomer said in a phone conversation with anti-fascist activists that he would secure a victory for Joseph R. Biden Jr., the lawsuit said. In fact, Mr Coomer did not attend an “Antifa conference call” and took no action to undermine the presidential election, the lawsuit said.

Even so, hashtags demanding the arrest and exposure of Mr Coomer have been posted on social media. Mr. Trump’s son Eric posted a photo of Mr. Coomer on Twitter, along with the false claim that Mr. Coomer said he would secure a Biden win. Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s attorney, said at a press conference that Mr. Coomer was a “mean, vicious man” who was “close to Antifa,” the lawsuit said.

And Sidney Powell, who was also one of Mr. Trump’s attorneys, replied, “Yeah, that’s right” on Newsmax when asked if Mr. Coomer said, “Don’t worry about President Trump, I did already assured He will lose the election, ”the lawsuit said.

As a result, Mr. Coomer received an onslaught of abusive messages, harassment and death threats under the lawsuit listing Ms. Powell as a defendant.

“These inventions and attacks against me have changed my life, forced me to flee my home, and made my family and loved ones fear for my safety and I fear for theirs,” Coomer wrote in a published in The Denver Post column in December.

In its statement on Friday, Newsmax said it wanted to “clarify” its coverage of Mr Coomer.

“There are several facts that our viewers should know,” the statement said. “Newsmax has found no evidence that Dr. Coomer interfered in any way with Dominion voting machines or voting software, or that Dr. Coomer ever said so. Neither has Newsmax found any evidence that Dr. Coomer has ever taken part in a conversation with members of the ‘Antifa’, nor that he was directly involved in a party political organization. “

Mr. Coomer’s attorney, Steve Skarnulis, said he could not comment on the statement “because the terms of the settlement are strictly confidential.”

Newsmax said it does not comment on any litigation.

“Our statement on the website is consistent with our previous statements that we saw no evidence of software tampering in the 2020 elections,” said a spokesman for Newsmax.

In December, Newsmax released a statement dispensing with a number of false claims about Dominion and Smartmatic, another voting technology company that has been at the center of conspiracy theories. The statement came after Smartmatic said it had sent Newsmax legal notices and letters demanding withdrawals for posting “false and defamatory statements”.

Newsmax’s statement confirmed that “no evidence was presented that Dominion or Smartmatic used software or reprogrammed software that manipulated the 2020 election vote.”

In February, a Newsmax host, Bob Sellers, interrupted Mike Lindell, the executive director of MyPillow and noisy Trump supporter, as he began attacking Dominion on the air. As Mr. Lindell continued speaking, Mr. Sellers read a prepared statement saying that the election results in each state had been confirmed.

“Newsmax accepts the results as legal and final,” said Sellers. “The courts also supported this view.”

Mr. Coomer’s lawsuit, filed in Colorado, differs from a series of lawsuits that Dominion Voting Systems has filed against Fox News, Mr. Giuliani, and Mr. Lindell.

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Business

JPMorgan Apologizes for Its Function in Tremendous League

JPMorgan Apologizes for Its Role in Super League

JPMorgan Chase on Friday apologized for its role in funding a billion-dollar breakaway European football league, admitting in a statement that it “misjudged” how the project would be viewed by fans.

JPMorgan Chase had pledged around $ 4 billion to subscribe to the new league, but the American investment bank didn’t spend it or lose money: the league collapsed just 48 hours after it was announced after more than half of its 12 founding clubs switched their thoughts and announced that they would not attend.

Like the 12 clubs in the breakaway group, which included European giants such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​Manchester United and Liverpool, Juventus and AC Milan, JPMorgan has been heavily criticized by fans and others only for their participation in the plan.

The Super League, conceived as a league of 20 teams and 15 permanent members, would have slashed the revenues of dozens of national leagues, jeopardized the finances and values ​​of the hundreds of European clubs that were left out, and the structures that were left out. have underpinned European football for a century – and passed billions on to some elite teams in the process.

In a company statement, rare for its regrets and self-criticism, JPMorgan admitted it had been a mistake to fund the proposal without considering its impact on others.

“We have clearly misjudged how this deal will be seen by the wider football community and how it could affect them in the future,” said a company spokesman. “We will learn from it.”

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the bank’s co-president Daniel E. Pinto also tried to distance JPMorgan from the setback that is still causing turmoil in the clubs.

“We arranged a loan for a customer,” said Pinto. “It is not our job to decide how football works best in Europe and the UK.”

“We expected this to be emotional, we expected people to have different opinions,” added Pinto, “and that’s exactly what happens.”

Top debt finance executives had been involved with the group for months, trying to create the equivalent of a mortgage that would sign the start of the new contest that organizers were looking to pay off with one of the richest television deals in sports history.

Instead, the majority of the Super League’s members withdrew within 48 hours of its inception.

JPMorgan wasn’t the only powerful institution to apologize for its involvement. The majority of English teams, some of the most popular in world football, made humble statements for their decision to join the failed project. But it was the sight of billionaire Liverpool owner John W. Henry, a rare speaker who took personal responsibility for the fiasco that brought home how disastrous the company had been.

“I am sorry and I am solely responsible for the unnecessary negativity that has been generated in the past few days. I won’t forget that, ”said Henry in a video posted on the Liverpool website. In it he apologized not only to the fans of the club, but also to the players of the team, the manager of the club, Jürgen Klopp, and other executives of the team who were not consulted about the club’s decision.

Joel Glazer, the co-chair of the Manchester United billionaire, also made rare public comments. “Although the wounds are raw and I understand it will take time for the scars to heal, I am personally determined to restore the trust of our fans and learn from the message you have conveyed with such conviction,” wrote Glazer in a letter to fans admitted the club had made a mess.

“We got it wrong,” wrote Glazer, “and we want to show that we can fix things.”

No one associated with the project could avoid contamination from criticism, including the bank that funded it. JPMorgan executive director Jamie Dimon has been attacked on social media and in banking circles.

“How on earth did such a seasoned CEO who can connect so well with the real world, how on earth did you get this proposal where it got to?” A former Goldman Sachs economist, Jim O’Neill, told Bloomberg.

The criticism was particularly sharp for Dimon, who in recent years has endeavored to position the bank as a good social and corporate citizen.

JPMorgan was able to pull out of the business without suffering any financial loss, despite a huge loss of reputation, according to an executive familiar with the bank’s role in financing.

This may not apply to the teams that left after signing contracts that tied the 12 founding members to the outlier concept.

The Super League is actually not officially dead. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are still signed and continue their strategy.

One reason they might not have left could be financial. The contracts signed by the 12 founding members contained penalties worth millions of dollars. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, whose rising debts and fears of rising costs primarily drove them into the project, could remain in a position to evade tens of million dollar fines from their former partners for leaving from that.

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Health

Know-how Govt Apologizes After Dozens of Occasion Attendees Contract Covid-19

Technology Executive Apologizes After Dozens of Event Attendees Contract Covid-19

A technology executive in California apologized for hosting a conference in Culver City. After that, two dozen participants and employees of the event tested positive for the coronavirus.

The managing director, Peter H. Diamandis, was one of those who had contracted the coronavirus. In late January, he hosted the conference – an annual summit for a paid membership group called Abundance 360 ​​- with around 80 attendees, panelists, and support staff.

The gathering disregarded instructions from Los Angeles County public health officials who repeatedly urged people to avoid excessive travel or public mixing. At the time of the conference, southern California was experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases and many hospitals were still overwhelmed.

Mr Diamandis, the founder of the X Prize Foundation, a non-profit group that awards cash prizes for technological innovation, said in a blog post on Friday that he was “deeply sorry”. He added that the safety protocols for the event – including repeated Covid-19 tests for attendees, none of whom showed positive results at the time – had created a false sense of security, leading people to become less vigilant about masks and distancing were.

“I was wrong,” Diamandis said, adding that masks, physical distancing and vaccines are the best ways to fight the virus. “I hope others can learn from my mistakes.”

According to Diamandis, hundreds of people attended the conference virtually, and some asked if they could attend physically. The X-Prize office in Culver City, bordering Los Angeles, has been converted into a studio, and Mr Diamandis’ Instagram posts reveal he shares a brightly lit stage with panelists, some on video calls and others in person.

Mr Diamandis said those who attended the event had been asked to share negative test results for the coronavirus before arriving and that workers and attendees were repeatedly tested at the event, giving more than 450 negative results.

“I trusted that an immunity bubble was a ‘real thing’,” said Diamandis.

But two days after the studio production ended, an employee tested positive. He sent emails informing attendees, asking them to isolate and retest.

On Friday he wrote that at least 24 people were infected. MIT Technology Review, which reported on the meeting last week, found that at least 32 people associated with the conference may have been infected.

General membership to Abundance 360 ​​costs $ 12,500 annually, according to the organization’s online materials. According to MIT Technology Review, attendees at the January event each paid more than $ 30,000. When the conference began on January 23, California had a strict home-stay order. it was picked up two days later.

Updated

Apr. 16, 2021, 5:26 p.m. ET

On Tuesday, state and county health officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether Mr Diamandis could be fined or otherwise disciplined.

Representatives for Mr Diamandis, who has a degree in medicine from Harvard Medical School and whose entrepreneurial ventures include a coronavirus vaccine development company and a competition to improve Covid-19 testing technology, did not immediately respond to inquiries after Tuesday Comments.

Many people see a negative coronavirus test as a permit to socialize without precaution, but doctors and scientists say it is dangerously wrong.

Some types of tests, especially those that give quick results, do not reliably detect low levels of the virus and can falsely label infected people as “negative”. And even the best tests cannot see into the future: people can become infected with the coronavirus after a negative test result.

According to Diamandis, participants took part in PCR tests, which are molecular tests performed using a technique called a polymerase chain reaction. These tests are considered to be relatively reliable, but they are not perfect. (Antigen tests, which are designed to detect pieces of coronavirus protein rather than their genetic material, tend to give faster results than molecular tests, but they are more difficult to identify coronavirus cases.)

According to Diamandis, the PCR tests created a false sense of security. “We didn’t make it compulsory to wear masks 100 percent of the time in the studio,” he said. “This is definitely one of my biggest mistakes and one of the most important lessons I’ve learned.”

These lessons – particularly about relying too much on test results – hit Mr. Diamandis after he became ill himself.

“When it became clear that I had personally got Covid-19 (which sucks as everyone says), I tested myself twice a day with fast PCR and fast antigen for several consecutive days,” he wrote his blog post. “I was amazed that NONE of the tests were positive.”

Four days after his quarantine, a PCR spit test finally discovered the virus, Diamandis said.

He also noted that a group of people at the Culver City event – the 35 audiovisual experts who ran the live broadcast – wore masks throughout the production process and did not report positive test results.

“There were no COVID cases in this group,” wrote Diamandis. “Conclusion again: masks work.”