When Megan Rapinoe’s Seattle Reign took on the Washington Spirit Wednesday in NWSL action, the Spirit made headlines by deciding to play the national anthem ahead of schedule to avoid what they called a “hijacking” from Rapinoe.

The USWNT star, who took a knee Sunday in support of Colin Kaepernick with a desire to “continue the conversation” about racial injustice,  had her chance to respond following the match, and she didn’t hold back. As reported by the Washington Post, Rapinoe used some expletives to express her feelings, and still believes she is in the right when it comes to protesting the Star-Spangled Banner.

Aside from this, Rapinoe went onto criticize the Spirit’s owner over his lack of support for the LGBTQ community.

Following Rapinoe’s initial kneel, the Reign put out a release Wednesday that said they played the anthem early to avoid any more controversy. The release went onto say that Rapinoe had “hijacked” the anthem.

Much like Kaepernick’s decision, Rapinoe has received both praise and harsh criticism. This includes from employees inside the organization. While the team was accusing Rapinoe of hijacking, another staffer disagreed with the wording used to described Rapinoe’s actions and sent out a since-deleted tweet:

https://twitter.com/AdamReisinger/status/773678518366502912

The national soccer star isn’t the only athlete to join Kaepernick. Jeremy Lane of the Seattle Seahawks has also knelt during the anthem, as has Kaepernick’s 49ers’ teammate Eric Reid.

Regardless of how you opine on this issue, the protests by Kaepernick, Rapinoe and others have sparked a national conversation, and one that’s far from over.

[Washington Post]

About Ryan Williamson

Ryan is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri and has recently returned to his Minnesota roots. He previously has worked for the Columbia Missourian, KFAN radio in Minneapolis and BringMeTheNews.com. Feel free to email me at rwilliamson29 AT Gmail dot com.