Resurfaced Megan Rapinoe tweet risks major damage to her image | OneFootball

An old tweet posted back in 2011 has returned to haunt renowned LGBTQ, equal pay activist and, as of recently, Victoria’s Secret ambassador Megan Rapinoe.

A couple of days ago, the Victoria’s Secret lingerie brand announced that they are going to ditch their “bombshell” models. You heard right. The famous Angels are no longer. Instead, the retailer has opted in favour of a group of strong females, based on their social actions and not their body proportions.

The collective of seven major female empowerment figures are ready to showcase that beauty comes from the inside. Among them is 35-year-old OL Reign superstar Rapinoe.

“I’m looking forward to working with them to show ALL women their individual and collective beauty and power,” Rapinoe tweeted shortly after the deal was announced publicly.

The controversy around the “old” tweet

Body shaming, racist behaviour, discrimination and prejudice have no place in today’s world. That’s the primary message these ambassadors want to instill as Victoria’s Secret looks to redefine itself.

Maybe that is the reason why a tweet way from back in 2011 has returned to haunt Megan Rapinoe against such behaviours.

The whole burning Twitter “scandal” arose shortly after the Californian native was announced as one of the faces of the new policy campaign.

Natasha Kai, who Rapinoe addresses in the tweet, is of Chinese, Hawaiian, Caucasian and Filipino heritage and a proud lesbian.

A “woke” professional football player who has made the headlines numerous times in the past, mocking the Asian race by writing “u look Asian with those closed eyes” is not the way to go.

The similarities with the “Ollie Robinson” case

Earlier this month, cricket player Ollie Robinson was banned from playing for England ever again due to a couple of tweets he wrote when he was 18 at the time. The pink-haired USWNT international football player was 25 when she posted her own distasteful tweet.

Robinson later had to appear on the TV and apologize for his heinous comments, as he should. Although some people stood up in his defence, as they believed he was too “young” when he wrote those poor tweets, the outcome remained unchanged. The 27-year-old Englishman was already “cancelled”.

Such atrocious comments coming from the mouth of a male cricket player is one thing, but coming from one of the most noted flag-bearers against racism is a whole different level.

Why such racist comment coming from her makes no sense

Furthermore, considering how aggressively and ceaselessly woke the OL Reign midfielder has performed in recent years such discriminatory behaviour is rather peculiar. Even when it has occurred 10 years ago.

Rapinoe and other teammates started the famous equal pay campaign for female football players. She has also talked numerous times about the inequality in wages among women and men of the same profession.

We have seen her refusing to visit the White House when Donald Trump was in charge back in 2019 after the World Cup glory.

We have heard her supporting those who faced racism in the country and protesting by taking the knee when the USA national anthem was playing.

As a supporter of the “Black Lives Matter” on June 5th she signed a letter which was in favour of defunding the police and investing more funds in Black communities.

Her book titled “One Life” has numerous lines where she addresses her own struggles through life and how she coped with them. “Step outside yourself. Be more. Be better.” is a really famous line phrase she has used.

Finally and most importantly, she has united against Asian hate and has encouraged people to refrain from using the same language she used to joke. So what happened with her own beliefs and principles she has been talking about all that time?

Dealing with “double standards”

Ahead of this lies a surge of public uproars. Or maybe not? While Ollie may never play cricket internationally, some would believe that the same triggered reaction ought to apply for Megan too. Was Ollie’s punishment too harsh? At this point, the question is how to deal properly with such a sensitive yet serious matter.

It is vital that both the governing body and marketing colossuses take action and treat the matter accordingly, dispraising it as they ought to do at this point. It is also essential not to fall into the “double standards” trap that looms under that.

Of course, I’m not saying whether the decision made in Robinson’s case is the correct one or not. But if he got banned for racist behaviour, then Rapinoe should face the same consequences. And that is the proper way to deal with problems of similar nature no matter who is the offender.

What comes next?

Well, should Rapinoe get cancelled for promoting such racist behaviour through an old “joking” tweet to an old teammate? The political correctness of our times shall not leave space for such mistakes being made by such influential personas. The 2015 and 2019 WWC winner had really no reason to make such a comment using the internet.

But then again if she really believed that making such a poor joke on someone’s nature would go unpunished, then what is she really standing for?

Megan Rapinoe has to take the criticism for this one, but also this should not be the final nail on her career.

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