If you follow Formula One, you’re probably familiar with Niki Lauda. (And if you’re not, well, that’s what Wikipedia is for.) The Austrian racing legend retired in 1985, but he’s managed to keep himself busy in other ways, managing F1 teams and running his own airline, Fly Niki.
Yesterday, Lauda stepped into the spotlight again, but this time, that light wasn’t so flattering: the 61-year-old made a public appeal to ban gay dancing on television.
The topic is making some headlines in Austria, where gay actor Alfons Haider is slated to perform with a straight guy on an episode of “Dancing With The Stars”, but we’re still not entirely sure how that came up in Lauda’s interview: “Hey, Niki, how’s the airline? Any thoughts about this year’s F1 teams? And, by the way, how do you feel about two men dancing together?” We’re also not sure why anyone would ask his opinion.
And yet, they did. His response:
“I have absolutely nothing against homosexuals. In fact, quite the contrary. In my airline Fly Niki I even have a few working for me, there is even some who are trainers…. All I want is that children and teenagers don’t get to see the wrong role models in dancing.”
Oh, but it gets better. Apart from those crotchety objections (matched with that hoary “some of my best friends are gay” rhetoric), Lauda had this to say:
“You don’t see that in discos or balls so why should you see it on the television?”
Clearly someone hasn’t been paying attention.
We’re happy to see that Lauda’s remarks have been roundly criticized by media outlets and the general public. (Haider himself quipped that Lauda’s words “disqualify themselves. They require no further comment.”) We’ll be even happier when folks like Lauda realize that they’re on the wrong side of history, but hey: all in due time.