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The top American soccer journalist covering the World Cup in Qatar recalled his experience of being temporarily detained by security on Monday for wearing a shirt supporting the LGTBQ community.

In Qatar on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called FIFA’s decision not to allow soccer clubs to wear a One Love armband “concerning.”

“[It]s] always concerning from my perspective when we see any restrictions on freedom of expression,” he said.

“It’s especially so when the expression is for diversity and inclusion,” he added. “And in my judgment, at least no one on a football pitch should be forced to choose between supporting these values and playing for their team.”

Here’s part of the Wednesday exchange on NewsNation’s On Balance between host Leland Vittert and CBS Sports analyst Grant Wahl:

VITTERT: You’re a journalist going to the Middle East and it’s stunning to me. You showed more moral courage than the secretary of state of the United StatesWAHL: I mean, all I can say is I was making a silent show of support for the LGBTQ community. Everywhere, including in Qatar where it’s [looked down upon] to be homosexual and i was not planning on posting this on my social media, the t-shirt, it was just a soccer ball with a rainbow around it. But I got detained as I was trying to get into the stadium for the first U.S. game and so at that point I

did post that I had been detained in a picture of me in the shirt and I’m glad I did because that sprang FIFA into action I think a lot more quickly than they would have otherwise because these guards they detained me for about half an hour and forcibly took my phone from me. Kept saying, they kept demanding that I take the shirt off. And I refused and that made it difficult for me.VITTERT: FIFA is the world body that organizes the World Cup, for non-soccer fans. They need a lot of lessons in moral courage. You think about the recap of Qatar they gave the games to. They tricked migrants to build stadiums in the desert heat, paid them pennies a day, held them in slavery. Hundreds, maybe thousands, died. They took millions from Fox Sports, other corporations to allow them to sponsor and air the tournament, order them not to talk about the problems that you and I are talking about right now.Promised millions coming to visit they’d be allowed to buy beer, then decided only VIP guests would be allowed to drink, days before. They also provided, as promised, that it will be open and inclusive, remembers the LGBT community, and then obviously reneged on that.What is happening to this sport? How did FIFA and soccer get co-opted by Qataris to try to remake their image?WAHL: Well, back in 2010 is when Qatar won the right
to host this World Cup and the U.S. Department of Justice, as part of their investigation into FIFA, sprawling investigations, as they have evidence Qatar paid bribes to the FIFA voters to get to the World Cup 12 years ago. The Qataris deny is, of course. There’s many series documentaries out about all of this and FIFA’s a totally corrupt organization. It has been for a long time…

Watch above via NewsNation.

Tags: Grant Wahl, Leland Vittert, world cup