NBC's Chris Marlowe called the same-sex spouse of Larissa Franca, a Brazilian women's beach volleyball player, her husband, sparking a protest on social media Tuesday after the comment, according to SB Nation's Outsports.com.
Franca and her volleyball teammate Talita Antunes had just beaten Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat from the United States to advance to Round of 16 in the beach volleyball competition when Franca went to the audience to hug Liliane Maestrini, who she has been married to since 2013, noted Outsports.com.
With television cameras focused on the pair, Marlowe innocently commented: "She gives a hug to Lili. That is her husband. She married Lili in 2013 and Larissa is celebrating with her pals."
Marlowe, an Olympic broadcasting veteran for NBC Sports, is a longtime broadcast voice for the Denver Nuggets, noted USA Today. Marlowe was also captain of the U.S. men's volleyball team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1984.
Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete in a major U.S. professional sport to come out while he was still playing, was one of the first to respond to the comments on Twitter. He was later joined by others.
Marlowe later apologized on social media.
Marlowe's comment was just the latest complaint about statements made by NBC Sports broadcasters during the Olympics.
On Monday, NBC gymnastics announcer Al Trautwig, apologized for suggesting that Simone Biles' adoptive parents were not really her parents. Ron and Nellie Biles adopted Simone and her sister Adria in 2001 after the girls spent time foster care, wrote USA Today.
"I regret that I wasn't more clear in my wording on the air," Trautwig said in a NBC Sports statement, noted USA Today. "I compounded the error on Twitter, which I quickly corrected. To set the record straight, Ron and Nellie are Simone's parents."
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