United States women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe fired back at Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green over his Twitter rant about women’s sports. And while she had many choice words for Green, there were a few that stuck out — like saying Green “showed [his] whole a–.”
During a Zoom call ahead of this summer’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, which Rapinoe will take part in, the soccer star told reporters that Green’s comments — including that he’s “really tired of seeing [female athletes] complain about the lack of pay” — were “not acceptable at all,” among other things.
“It’s really unfortunate, in the position [Green’s] in, having all of the resources that he has and the ability to have a much more educated opinion, that he just hasn’t,” said Rapinoe, who’s been at the forefront of the USWNT’s fight for equal pay.
She went on to condemn Green for going as far as tagging veteran WNBA stars — Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, Skyler Diggins-Smith, Sue Bird and Brittney Griner — and Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the WNBA’s players’ association, in a tweet announcing his rant.
“That’s frustrating that’s the take you have,” said Rapinoe, who is engaged to Bird. “You obviously showed your whole a– in not even understanding what we all talk about all the time — WNBA players and us on the national team.
“Like what Sue [Bird] said, you tagged the wrong people. You don’t think we asked for more money? I mean, what are we screaming about? Nonstop!”
Green initially expressed his opinion about women’s sports in a series of tweets at the end of March — coincidentally at the same time the NCAA Women’s Tournament saw its most-viewed Final Four weekend since 2012.
“As long as y’all make the argument about pay, while the revenue stays the same… They will continue to point at the revenue not being high enough to cover bigger salaries,” Green’s tweets read in part.
While discussing the pay gap between NBA and WNBA players and the necessary “global exposure” it takes to increase revenue, Green suggested that female athletes’ voices “are falling on deaf ears” because they don’t have an action plan to drive financial support.
“The NBA wasn’t always the global game that it is today,” Green wrote. “It wasn’t always driving as much revenue as it does today. But there were people behind it, building the platform, and more importantly telling INDIVIDUAL… stories and building up the interest in the players. That’s how the game took off. Who’s building up y’all platform? Who’s telling the individual stories of how great y’all are? Building the interest and transforming women’s basketball into a global game?”
Just a few days after his Twitter rant, Green doubled down on his comments to reporters for nearly nine minutes following a Warriors practice in Miami.
“I’ve seen so many complaints recently of women talking about the pay gap between what we make and what they make,” Green said. “And I feel where they’re coming from. I know what I put into this, to be great. They put in the same time in that we put in. So, I understand what they’re saying.
“But I’m really tired of seeing them complain about the lack of pay because they’re doing themselves a disservice by just complaining.”
On the aforementioned Zoom call, Rapinoe called Green’s latter comments “frustrating.”
“We know all this, about all social movements and all people who are marginalized, whether it’s by race or gender, religion, sexuality, whatever it is, it is not just their job to be the ones fighting oppression,” said Rapinoe, who urged, “We need all of the other people as well. So to have someone who does know what it is like to be oppressed, in many ways, to heap that all back on female players, or people who play female sports, it is just really disappointing.”
Rapinoe corrected Green even further by noting that “when we talk about equality and women’s sports, we always talk first about investment, and funding and resources and marketing and branding and investing in not just the players but the support staff and coaching and media, TV media, print media, all of it.”
Additionally, Rapinoe echoed that those who’ve paid attention to female athletes and their quest for equal pay “knows that that’s what we talk about first.”
As for Draymond, he has yet to comment on Rapinoe’s “whole a–” response.