FloSports' connection to a controversy with pictures of McKayla Maroney has upset fans and OlympiansGETTY IMAGES
USA Gymnastics' new streaming deal with FloSports has "sparked widespread outrage" within the American gymnastics community over a website owned by the company "linking to purported nude photos" of Gold Medal-winning gymnast McKayla Maroney in '14, according to Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. An August '14 online story on Gymnastike, owned and operated by the company then known as FloCast, "posted a link to photos on an adult website that claimed the photos were of Maroney and had been hacked from her personal account." To former Olympians, national team members and fans, the deal with FloSports in the wake of the Maroney controversy is "further proof that USA Gymnastics remains tone deaf and continues to emphasize branding and marketing over athlete safety." Within hours of the deal’s announcement by USA Gymnastics, a petition appeared on Change.org calling for the sport’s Indianapolis-based NGB to cancel the partnership. USA Gymnastics in a statement said it and FloSports are "both committed to learning from past mistakes and implementing necessary changes to ensure those mistakes are not repeated" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 1/28).
