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.
Megan Rapinoe's reaction to Washington Spirit playing anthem while players were in locker room: "It’s fucking unbelievable. Saddened by it"
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) September 8, 2016
Rapinoe: "It was incredibly distasteful, 4 days before 1 of the worst tragedies in our country, to say I tried to hijack this event."
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) September 8, 2016
Two park police officers were assigned to Rapinoe for her safety. No specific threat, no incidents, just precaution. #nwsl
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) September 8, 2016
Rapinoe: "Obviously there is some negative going on, but I am not rolling through the trolls. Keep it positive."
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) September 8, 2016
Aside from this, Rapinoe went onto criticize the Spirit’s owner over his lack of support for the LGBTQ community.
"Bill Lynch is homophobic," Rapinoe says. To be clear, her main point was about the Spirit's lack of Pride nights, not the anthem.
— Caitlin Buckley (@caitlinbuckley2) September 8, 2016
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.