While NBA center Jason Collins was being praised around the Internet for being the first gay active athlete to come out, the Daily Beast published a column by writer Howard Kurtz that was instantly criticized for being factually inaccurate. The website has since retracted the piece, although it is still available to read.
Kurtz’s piece is titled “Jason Collins’ Other Secret” and is based on the idea that Collins didn’t admit in his Sports illustrated essay that he was once engaged to a woman. But the problem is that Collins did mention that.
“When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged,” Collins wrote. “I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.”
According to New York Magazine, Kurtz did edit the piece, but still worded his column as if it was wrong for Collins not to make a big deal out of being engaged at one point. Then, he sent a tweet out that read, “Apologies: Jason Collins did mention his engagement in SI article. But he didn't tell the full story--his ex says she just learned he's gay.”
The piece was still being attacked on Twitter, though. “But that's what COMING OUT is! If he had told her already ... he'd be out already,” New York Magazine’s Justin Miller tweeted.
So, the Daily Beast finally decided to retract the piece. “In his original blog post, Kurtz incorrectly stated that Collins ‘didn’t come clean’ about the engagement. In an amended version, Kurtz added that Collins ‘downplayed’ the engagement and ‘didn’t dwell on it.’” the site wrote. “The Daily Beast sincerely regrets Kurtz’s error—and any implication that Collins attempted to hide or obscure the engagement.”
As IBTimes notes, Kurtz hasn’t made a comment on the retraction.