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Civil Rights Group Blasts Bryant Gumbel

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A Washington-D.C.-based civil rights group is blasting HBO sports commentator Bryant Gumbel for complaining last week that the Winter Olympics were too white.

While covering the games from Torino, Italy, Gumbel mused:

"Count me among those who don't care about [the Olympics] and won't watch them... So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention."

In a statement issued Friday, Project 21's Mychal Massie said the former "Today" show host was out of line:

"For Gumbel to castigate an entire field of athletes who have worked a lifetime in pursuit of a dream - and then injecting race into it - is unforgivable."

Turning the tables on Gumbel, Massie added: "Should he be condemned for only having one other black on his news team? Following Gumbel's rationale, I would expect the answer to be yes."

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Project 21 member Deneen Moore accused Gumbel of trying to score "cheap racial political points," explaining: "Accessibility, affordability and motivation are key requirements for individuals to excel in sport activities, not the color of one's skin. Mr. Gumbel should be aware of these obvious facts and not try to score cheap racial political points."

The episode wasn't the first time Gumbel ruffled feathers with his politically tinged outbursts.

After interviewing pro-life activist Robert Knight of the Family Research Council for CBS's "Early Show" six years ago - and thinking his microphone was turned off - Gumbel proclaimed: "What a f . . . ing idiot."

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