The “pissed” American athlete who turned away from the flag during the national anthem faced online backlash Sunday — as she doubled down on her star spangled snub.
Gwen Berry on Saturday turned toward the crowd rather than the flag before holding up a black shirt that read, “Activist Athlete” — prompting one critic to say Americans should return the favor.
“Let’s turn our backs on HER,” said Kathy Tavoularis, a California Republican operative.
“If you can’t respect the flag or anthem then you shouldn’t be allowed to complete,” posted Vic DeGrammont, a Republican congressional candidate in Florida, on Twitter.
Opinion writer Josh Jordan mocked Berry for thinking the Olympic trials are about her.
“Yes, the US Olympics committee spent their time meticulously planning to make sure that the national anthem was played at the exact moment she was on the podium… because everyone knows the Olympics is all about (checks tweet) Gwen Berry,” he said sarcastically.
“What is wrong with people?” asked former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
“Growing up, everyone stood for the American flag,” he added. “Didn’t matter your politics, race, sex, income, religion; everyone stood for the flag. It was one of those civic rituals that brought us together. It still should today.”
Journalist David Steinberg suggested a different athlete be sent instead of Berry.
“Send the fourth-place finisher,” he tweeted. “Gwen Berry has a world of options if she doesn’t want to compete under our flag. Not a penny of taxpayer money should fund her campaign to make Americans hate each other.”
Berry, 31, wouldn’t back down and took shots at her detractors.
“Stop playing with me,” she tweeted Sunday afternoon, with an accompanying picture of her facing in a different direction than the other athletes.
The online responses came after Berry on Saturday claimed the anthem was played during her ceremony to target her, since she was put on probation for raising her fist during the Pan-American Games in Peru in August 2019.
“I feel like it was a set-up, and they did it on purpose,” Berry said of when the anthem played. “I was pissed, to be honest.”
“They had enough opportunities to play the national anthem before we got up there,” Berry said in Oregon, where the Olympic trials are being hosted. “I was thinking about what I should do. Eventually I stayed there and I swayed, I put my shirt over my head. It was real disrespectful.
“I didn’t really want to be up there. Like I said, it was a setup. I was hot, I was ready to take my pictures and get into some shade.”