PYEONGCHANG, South Korea _ Spectacular performances by the likes of Yuzuru Hanyu and Chloe Kim have obscured the improbable upset that is unfolding at these Games.
Shaun White is surviving his #MeToo moment.
The iconic snowboarder won what was potentially the most expensive gold medal in history, as his return last week to the Olympic spotlight resulted in the resurfacing of two-year-old sexual harassment claims against him. White appeared headed for ruin, but the allegations haven't resulted in lost endorsement deals as of yet.
The lawsuit filed by a former female drummer in his band was settled out of court. From a legal standpoint, White hasn't been found guilty of any wrongdoing, although he did admit to sending inappropriate text messages to his former bandmate.
Perhaps the standard of misconduct necessary to outrage people has increased. The accusations leveled against White were appalling but lacked the shock value of the stories that involved Harvey Weinstein or Louis C.K.
What this really speaks to, however, is the binary prism through which sports are viewed. As evidenced by the public's inability to make coherent sense of performance-enhancing drugs, sports fans aren't wired to deal with complexity. If anything, the absence of complexity is what makes sports appealing to them. Teams win or lose. Athletes are good or bad. The real world is almost entirely gray and psychologically exhausting. Sports provide an escape to a simple world of black and white.
Incapable of reconciling White the snowboarder with White the alleged sexual harasser, society will do what it typically does in these cases, which is to celebrate him as an Olympic champion and relegate his transgressions to an annotated footnote.
