Megan Rapinoe Fires Back After Trump Shames USWNT for Getting Bronze: ‘You’re Rooting for People to do Bad? Yikes’
Former President Donald Trump mocked the US women’s national soccer team after they settled for an Olympic bronze medal earlier this week, specifically taking aim at the “woman with the purple hair.”
That woman, Megan Rapinoe scored two goals as the USWNT held off Australia 4-3 to win bronze at the Tokyo Games. Despite being favored to win gold, few athletes will feel shame in winning a bronze medal at the Olympics. But Trump took the third-place finish as an opportunity to ridicule the USWNT for their various social justice messaging in recent years.
“If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold medal instead of the Bronze,” Trump said in a statement. “Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has.”
Rapinoe was asked if she had a rebuttal to Trump’s comments by Jack Doles of Nexstar Media Wire.
“It’s a real sad dig into an old bag,” Rapinoe said after first stating she didn’t have a response. “I’m just like, ‘You’re rooting for people to do bad?’ Yikes.”
Trump lashed out at the NBA and NFL on numerous occasions for their activism during his tenure in office. He similarly loathed the USWNT, especially after Rapinoe stated “I’m not going to the f*cking White House” when they won the World Cup in 2019.
Championship winning teams traditionally make an honorary visit to the White House, but the USWNT was not alone in boycotting a trip to see Trump, joining the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia Eagles among others.
“I think it’s important for everybody to do whatever they can to make the world a better place. I think it’s no secret there’s a lot of inequalities all over the world in every aspect of life,” Rapinoe said to Doles, explaining the importance of athletes speaking out against injustices.
“We obviously have huge platforms,” she continued. “We get to be at the Olympics or play in front of thousands of people and so, I think it’s just kind of a wasted opportunity and kind of selfish, to be honest, to not use that platform and the influence we have.”
Watch above via Nexstar Media Wire
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