NBC broadcaster Mike Tirico started his Winter Olympics coverage last year in Beijing by calling out China’s alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and acknowledged the diplomatic boycott among Western countries ahead of the Games.
Tirico opened up about addressing the serious concerns about Beijing hosting the Olympics amid accusations of genocidal actions against millions of Muslim Uyghurs.
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"There were things that had to be said when we were in China, and we said them, right out of the gate," Tirico said in an episode of "The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast." "Our first segment of our first broadcast from Beijing while we were on the ground there was all about the Uyghur population – not all about, but we addressed it right on – the Uyghur population, the Muslim issue and the treatment of the Uyghurs in China."
Tirico said he feared China would do something screwy out of retaliation.
"In being honest, I have to say, I was concerned about if my COVID test was going to come back surprisingly positive all of a sudden after our first night in China, and we made our comments about the treatment of the Uyghurs over there," he added.
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Tirico did not fail any COVID tests while he was overseas.
The U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and later India were among the countries that launched a diplomatic boycott against China.
The U.S., other governments and the United Nations have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from its Uyghur community and other Muslim ethnic minority groups into detention camps. Many who have been detained have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to abandon their religion and language.
China has denied all the accusations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
