Hope Solo is no stranger to controversy, and neither is Megan Rapinoe. Both women have made it a point to use their platform to further the causes they care most about, and while it’s Megan Rapinoe’s social stances (or lack of stance, but we’ll get to that in a moment), the thing that seems to keep Hope Solo in the news is her choice of phrase.
This time, in the midst of attempting to make a nuanced point about the division that surrounds the activism of the US Women’s National Team, she used one of the biggest buzz words anyone can use- bully. And she used it in reference to her old friend and teammate…
“I’ve seen Megan Rapinoe almost bully players into kneeling because she really wants to stand up for something in her particular way. But it’s our right as Americans to do it whatever way we’re comfortable with and I think that’s really hard being on the main stage right now with so many political issues for athletes. There’s a lot of pressure and ultimately at the end of the day our number one focus should and has always been to win first.”
The context of the comments came in an interview with goal.com, and came on the heels of former president Donald Trump issuing a statement attributing the wokeness of the USWNT and Rapinoe as the reason for their bronze medal finish.
Hope Solo was in the middle of a reasonable thought about the way the country as a whole reacts to athletes protesting during the national anthem, saying “Right now what I’ve seen is there’s been so much debate about the kneeling, about the not kneeling. I know most people stand against discrimination, and I live in the south, I live in a very conservative area here in North Carolina in the south. Obviously I have friends on both sides of the aisle, but I think the kneeling thing can be very divisive.”
She’s not wrong. Kneeling during the anthem is factually, objectively, palpably divisive… and that’s sort of the point of it. But, as legions of people have pointed out on social media, Hope Solo wasn’t exactly around for the kneeling. She’d been suspended from competition for six months just days before Megan Rapinoe first publicly protested.
Her suspension came after calling the Swedish National Team “cowardly” for their style of play, and for raising the ire of the entire city of Rio for saying she was “begrudgingly” traveling to the Olympic games amidst Zika virus concerns.
On both occasions, she was left to clarify seemingly reasonable intent due to less than stellar word choice.
So here we are, yet again. Not only is bully a word that is sure to get everyone riled up, the timeline of the accusation is undoubtedly going to lead to a need for further explanation.
UnafraidShow.com founder George Wrighster gets into all that and more here:
Have a take you’d like us to read and address in a future article or on a future show? Email us at immad@unafraidshow.com and we’ll address your take.