Olympian Emma Weyant finishes second to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in NCAA championship
The ‘Outnumbered’ panel discuss Lia Thomas’ victory and the future of women’s sports.
NBC News is mum after being called for out appearing to manipulate a photo of transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas after critics blasted the Peacock Network for attempting to make her more feminine.
Thomas, who previously swam for the men's team before transitioning to female in 2019, has sparked a national debate after winning the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships earlier this month.
When NBC’s "Today" covered the story on March 17, the flagship morning show aired an image of Thomas that eagle-eyed viewers noticed appeared to be photoshopped. The original photo of Thomas featured prominent red markings left by goggles and other blemishes, but a version shown to NBC viewers appeared to have been altered in order to make it appear Thomas had flawless skin.
NBC News was accused of editing an image of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Prominent red markings left by goggles were visible when NBC News used a similar image in a follow-up segment.
The Post Millennial covered the situation with a March 20 article headlined, "NBC accused of airbrushing photo of biological male Lia Thomas." The Washington Examiner spoke with a photographer and Penn graduate who was "disappointed" with NBC's apparent decision to alter another image of Thomas that she took herself.
LIA THOMAS' COMPETITORS IN ‘EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TURMOIL’: NCAA ALL-AMERICAN SWIMMER
"I pride myself on providing authentic images as a photojournalist," Erica Denhoff told the outlet. "I'm surprised and disappointed that ‘Today’ altered my image of Lia for this particular news segment."
Days later, New York Post reporter Jon Levine followed up and was told the image of Thomas in the pool had "definitely undergone some sort of softening and smoothing effect" by a former White House director of digital content.
NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, NBC News published an opinion piece linking Thomas to Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier as its first Black player. In the piece from NBC News’ website, Purdue University Professor Cheryl Cooky argued, "For anyone who cares about the advancement of sports, and women's sports in particular, her win should be celebrated."
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Cooky, who teaches gender and sexuality studies, downplayed critics who say trans women have an unfair advantage, saying their assumptions "are not well-founded" and lack "scientific evidence" that firmly concludes "a direct link between testosterone athletic performance," citing "coaching and training, psychological makeup of an athlete, access to resources and equipment" as other factors.
"Change in sports doesn't happen overnight, nor is it linear. Major professional sports leagues like MLB and the NFL resisted racially integrating their player rosters ... Today, athletes like Jackie Robinson are celebrated as ‘breaking the color barrier’ in sports, although that narrative often requires sanitizing, simplifying or rewriting a more complex, nuanced and contradictory history," Cooky wrote.
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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