Originally published January 31 2009
Olympian Michael Phelps Caught Smoking Bong, Media Pressured to Kill Photos
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) Super Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps has been caught in photographs depicting him partying and smoking a bong. The media is going crazy over the issue, calling Phelps a "pot head" and suggesting that his tens of millions of dollars in celebrity endorsements will now vanish. Corporate America, of course, doesn't want to associate itself with a pot smoker. So much for all the big corporate sponsorship deals.
You can see the photos of Michael Phelps expertly lighting up a bong here: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/150832/...
But I part ways with the mainstream media over all this. I was far more outraged when I saw Michael Phelps plugging McDonald's restaurants than seeing him smoking a bong. His bong smoking, after all, was a private affair (at least until the photo was snapped), while his endorsement of junk food and processed foods was intentionally made public for promotional purposes.
Not that I endorse his pot smoking, either, but at least he wasn't intentionally doing it for the cameras. You'll never see a picture of the Health Ranger smoking a bong, by the way, because I've never smoked a bong in my entire life -- something that many people find impossible to believe, especially given that I support the ending of the War on Drugs in America and the legalization and regulation of medical marijuana.
But there's even more to this story: News of the World reports that there was an attempted bribe (of sorts) offered to them by the agency representing Michael Phelps, known as Octagon. There, spokesperson Clifford Bloxham reportedly offered News of the World an "extraordinary deal" to yank the story, including making Phelps their columnist for three years, getting Phelps to host events, and even finding new sponsors to advertise with the online magazine and pay them money!
In return for this special treatment, Bloxham reportedly asked News of the World to kill the story, saying, "It's seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World."
The sleaze machine behind Phelps
This kind of sleazy deal-making is not going to portray Phelps in a positive light. Not only was the guy caught partying and smoking a bong, but now his agency is blatantly caught in a sleaze-slinging deal that attempted to censor the media in order to protect Phelps' dark secrets.
(This kind of thing goes on all the time, of course, with the mainstream media. Just imagine what kind of pull Big Pharma has over the press...)
This story continues below the photo. (Photo courtesy of News of the World, which deserves full credit for breaking this story (http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk).
Is Phelps smoking crack? Or is it just pot?
I have previously published strong criticism of Phelps, calling him a "sellout" for serving as an ambassador of McDonald's restaurants (http://www.naturalnews.com/023930.html). In that article, you can see photos of Phelps hawking McDonald's food for children.
Nobody got outraged about that in the media, of course. To most people, pushing junk food that compromises the health of children is fine. But smoking a bong that harms no one else is an outrage! (This sort of tells you how skewed American values are these days, huh?)
Phelps has also taken money to endorse sugary breakfast cereals for children. In August of last year, I publicly offered to serve as Phelps' nutritionist to get him on a healthier diet and boost his performance for the 2012 Olympics (http://www.naturalnews.com/023931.html). Not surprisingly, I never heard a word from Phelps' agents. They seemed to be a whole lot busier scrambling up some million-dollar paid endorsements for Phelps.
Well now the world has come to see in Phelps what I saw from the very beginning: That Phelps is a false hero who serves as a terrible role model for children. Phelps is a freakishly good swimmer with lousy ethics and an astounding lack of morality. He takes money to push products that arguably harm the health of children, and he's apparently been partying hard, pouring drinks for all the girls, slamming down booze and smoking up some weed.
One source from the News of the World article says about Phelps, "You could tell Michael had smoked before. He grabbed the bong and a lighter and knew exactly what to do. He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits."
Again, I don't have an issue with Phelps smoking a bong in a bar, but the rest of the world does, and now the rest of the world considers Phelps a total loser... for all the wrong reasons.
Now, it seems, Phelps will be taking a big hit, and I don't mean the bong kind. He'll be taking this hit in the pocketbook, potentially costing him tens of millions of dollars in paid endorsements.
And that, friends, makes Michael Phelps' toke the most expensive bong hit in the history of the world!
Summary: The world freaks out over Phelps privately smoking a bong, but they're fine with him publicly promoting junk foods to children. What's wrong with this picture? It is the public, I think, that's on drugs here�
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