Megan Rapinoe called out Warriors star Draymond Green for showing his ‘whole ass’ with his comments on inequalities in women’s sports.
When the NBA star sent tweets that seemed to blame female athletes for the inequalities that are still prevalent in women’s sports, the U.S. women’s soccer legend quickly pointed out his ignorance and doubled down during an appearance at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s media summit for the Tokyo Olympics.
“Obviously you kinda showed your whole ass, not even understanding what we all talk about all the time, whether it’s WNBA players or us here on the national team,” Rapinoe said. “And you tagged the wrong people! You don’t think we have asked for more funding? What are we screaming about nonstop?”
As the disparities between the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments came to light, Green took to social media to share his thoughts on the matter. He largely missed the mark when he raised points that women have been discussing for years, like how executives explain the pay gap is directly tied to revenue.
He even said that how their stories are shared is one of the reasons why Green said he turned down doing Public Service Announcements during Women’s History Month.
“It’s hypocritical. Because these same companies that are telling women empowerment are not putting their money where their mouth is,” Green said. “Call on this companies to support y’all. To infuse capitol into the business.
“Stop allowing them to yell women empowerment for the look. No company grows without funding. Y’all business can grow with the proper funding and story telling. Make these huge companies commit money to y’all cause. That’s empowering! Or don’t yell women empowerment.”
Green gave “pointers” on how to raise awareness for and increase investment in women’s sports. He mentioned how the NBA became global due to how players’ stories were shared and how people were building up the game. The NBA star went as far as to say players should be focusing on this versus equal pay.
Rapinoe, who is an open and vocal support of equal pay, quickly shut him down. In a thread of her own on March 27, she said that Green should tell these companies asking him to do the PSAs what they’ve been telling the companies for years about women’s empowerment and equality.
“And you know who largely are the gatekeepers to that money, investment, resources, capital, time and sponsorship dollars are?” Rapinoe said. “Men. Do you know who men listen to? Other men…Just like with fights around all other social issues, change cannot be made if the only people who care about the change enough are the ones who are suffering the most from it.”
Green also tagged WNBA stars Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, Sky Diggins, Brittney Griner and Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the WNBA’s players association, in this tweets.
“When we talk about equality in 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,” Rapinoe said. “Those are the things we talk about first, and I think anybody who watches us or follows us or has skin in the game (knows that). … We understand that if all of those things are done, then yes, we will most likely be requiring a much higher salary than we’re at.”
