NBC Olympic analyst Joshua Cooper Ramo angered host country South Korea with his comment about their relationship with Japan.
He said “every Korean will tell you that Japan as a cultural and technological and economic example has been so important to their own transformation.”
Many Koreans felt it was a glossy comment that ignored indignities suffered by Koreans at the hands of colonial Japanese rule.
Ramo also made other comments that appeared to have no further depth or thought than what could have been gleaned from Wikipedia.
Ramo, 49, is considered to be a leading Asian scholar, who has written for Time and Newsweek and shared an Emmy for his work at the 2008 Games in Beijing.