Purple-Haired Superstars and their Woke Games Ruined the Olympics
Megan Rapinoe proves that faux activism is her primary concern
By Joel Brizzee, August 15, 2021 7:43 am
The ratings are in, and they are abysmal. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were a ratings disaster for NBC. The games aired to an anemic tv audience, with a devastating average of just 15.5 million total viewers compared to almost 28 million for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and 31 million for 2012 London Olympics.
At a time when many are still out of work in the United States, one might imagine the Olympics would have received a boost in viewership. This is not the case. The opening and closing ceremonies lost 42% and 48% respectively from the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. By almost every metric, the Tokyo games failed to garner a respectable audience. Dateline summed it up nicely – “NBC can say that they won Sunday night against CBS’ Big Brother and Love Island, animation encores on Fox and Major League Baseball on ABC, but really, that’s not a lot to write home about — from Tokyo or otherwise”. Ouch.
What caused this disaster? One explanation is the Olympic bronze medal recipient and woke superstar, Megan Rapinoe.
While some wish to lay the blame at the feet of the Covid-19 pandemic, many ignore the effect that woke athletes such as Megan Rapinoe had on overall viewership. Megan’s anti-American sentiment is ignored by most in the establishment media, and she is magically forgiven for her lack of actual activism on the issues she claims to support.
America’s favorite purple-haired lesbian along with many of her teammates kneeled for the national anthem in Tokyo to the dismay of people back home. Ignoring the fact that the United States lost to Canada in this event and came in third while expecting to win, there are multiple problems with Megan’s supposed activism.
Firstly, as an openly gay woman, she dismisses the fact that she lives in one of the most gay-friendly countries ever to exist. Marriage equality, extended benefits and employment protections are all federally enshrined and protected in the United States. Yet, Megan still finds it necessary to demagogue even the tiniest perceived lack of equality and never bothers to praise the country for how much it’s progressed in such a short time.
It’s a constant “vinegar over honey” approach. In casting herself as the spokeswoman for the entire LGBTQ2S+ (yes… it’s grown to that), she believes she has the right to comment on gay men in sports, as well. In an interview with the BBC, Ms. Rapinoe states, “Eventually the environment will be different where you feel like you can come out. We’re trying to make it better and set the environment so when you are ready to come out, the environment is ready for you.” Swing and a miss Megan. Over 70% of the US population supports broad LGBTQ protections, a monumental shift since the turn of the millennia. This was proven when football player Carl Nassib came out this year. No one cared and there was no noticeable backlash. He’s the first NFL player to come out while playing the game.
Progress apparently isn’t important to Megan though… just perpetual victimhood and her ability to make money off of it. She’s partnered with Nike, Hulu, Under Armour, Procter and Gamble, Subway, Victoria’s Secret and others, making herself a star as she accomplishes little.
The new face of Subway is currently facing a partial boycott by Olympic watchers over Megan’s repeated divisive political stances. Many are calling on Subway to fire Megan as its spokesperson. “Numerous franchise owners and some customers, particularly from red states, have complained about Rapinoe being featured in ads for the chain, specifically noting the soccer player’s political activism and apparent disrespect for our nation.” This, coupled with the fact that her commercials draw little more than yawns from spectators, makes one wonder why the entertainment industry is focusing so much on an athlete who lacks broad support.
If ruining the Olympics and bothering footlong eaters wasn’t enough, Megan also made waves regarding her involvement with Victoria’s Secret. The lingerie company has come under increasing scrutiny for its woke approach over the past few years. A brand that traditionally presented supermodels as sexy, sultry emblems of femininity, it has recently opted to rebrand itself as a company for all shapes and sizes. According to Newsweek, “The company also canceled its November 2019 fashion show, amid criticism that the annual event failed to represent women of varying sizes and backgrounds.” The only problem with this approach is that Victoria Secret’s target market is actually heterosexual men buying lingerie for their female counterparts.
When Victoria Secret’s announced Megan’s involvement, conservative Twitter erupted in a barrage of tweets excoriating the company for choosing politics over their bread and butter – sex. Jenna Ellis, former legal advisor to President Trump tweeted – “Is Victoria’s Secret really trying to pretend that women aren’t into being sexy and beautiful too? I don’t want to look like Megan Rapinoe. I can be feminine AND empowered, thanks.” Many of the other tweets similarly trashed the company and laughed at them for essentially destroying their own branding.
Unsurprisingly, Hollywood’s love for Megan Rapinoe is still quite strong. Even though the Olympics did in fact showcase many gold medalists who spoke of their love of the United States, the media and Hollywood have scarcely given them the proper airtime. Instead, they host Rapinoe on their shows. Such is the case with Drew Barrymore.
In welcoming Megan on the show, the Santa Clarita Diet star gave a gushing opener for the soccer star’s appearance – “The phenomenal Megan Rapinoe. Oh my gosh. I know you’re engaged but you’re so hot. I can’t take it. I just love you so much. You’re so attractive on the inside and the outside… everything you do in the world. Oh my goodness.” This interview, broken down into two segments didn’t actually cover any of Megan’s supposed activism. Simple lip service was all the starlet was comfortable discussing. Drew then said the quiet part out loud, “I didn’t even know where to start with all of the activism.” This point is important because Megan doesn’t seem to know either. From LGBTQ rights to equal pay, systemic racism, police brutality, ad nauseum, the Olympian has chosen the limelight of activism, not the work that goes into it.
Megan’s only real action to drive systemic change is her fight for equal pay — a cause that would benefit not others who are quietly suffering elsewhere, but her friends and herself. She and her teammates sued the United States Soccer Federation claiming that they were not paid as much as the men and that constituted gender discrimination. The portion of lawsuit concerning equal pay was dismissed on its face, the judge citing that their contracts were agreed upon in collective bargaining. The women are appealing that decision.
Megan’s life for the past 10 years perfectly encapsulates the notion of “the personal is the political” and America is increasingly bored of it. Yes, Megan will always appeal in some sense to a specific subgroup of fans. But given the responses to her behavior at the Olympics, her Subway commercials and the relationship she has with Victoria’s Secret, it’s only a matter of time before she will need to remake her woke wheel or take her millions and go home. It’s as if she’s learned nothing from the fate of Colin Kaepernick. One can only play the oppressed victim so long before becoming the diva who’s no longer worth the risk.
Regarding actual activism, Megan has accomplished close to nothing other than perhaps “raising awareness.” Similar to the stars of Hollywood, they are being revealed for what they are – simple grifters who use oppression as their costume to gain celebrity and to increase their bank accounts. Most people want to see an Olympian who humbly gives her best effort and quietly loves her country. That’s the only “image” that matters.
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I am normally a big supporter of the Olympics, but I will not watch Megan and the woke crowd. Disrespect our Flag, our Anthem, or our Country in any way and I’ll turn my back on them. Megan hates America and what America stands for, she is a disgrace.
Didn’t watch, didn’t miss it.
One of , if not the best article Ive read. So on point. These companies that support her will wake up when the bottom line hits bottom.
For the first time ever in my life, going back to ‘, ’84, I did not watch ONE SECOND of the Olympics, except for the golf, and that’s because it was on Golf Channel…
Not one other second…
These woke athletes are dead to me…
This is the biggest piece of gay hating drivel that I’ve seen in a long time. Joel Brizzee complains too loudly, I suspect he fantasizes about kneeling in front of the Donald.
BTW ratings for everything are at an all time low. Heck I can’t even remember the last time I watched anything on a broadcast network. Best to look at viewership compared to current numbers rather than historically if you have any interest in being fair
You have a point, but not entirely. It’s true that ratings for all “broadcast television” are down. But the ratings California Globe supplied encompass not only the viewership on NBC proper but the “all-sources” Nielsen feed, which takes into account the viewership on CNBC NBCs, and streaming on Peacock. But to give you even more perspective, a decline of nearly half since 2016 and more than half since 2012 really is catastrophic, even compared to other “event tv.” The 2021 Super Bowl, for example, had a 38.2 rating, the lowest in history. Its total viewership — 91.6M on TV + 5.7 streamers = 97.3M total –was the first to miss 100M since 2007. But the fall-off represents less than 20% decline from peak set in 2015 when 116M tuned in.
So you’re right — viewership is down for all event tv. But the Olympics decline was MUCH larger than the general industry decline. Whether that’s due to the author’s theory is other factors is up for debate, but it’s not really arguable that something was off at the Olympics far beyond the general decline.
(Source: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/super-bowl-ratings-historical-viewership-chart-cbs-nbc-fox-abc/)
Thank you for adding all that. The bigger picture.
Wow, I didn’t see anything that attacked the gay community. People hate Megan not for being gay but for hating America. They supposedly kneeled for BLM which is a Marxist and terrorist organization. Any organization that puts anyone on a pedestal for being a criminal has a problem. They could start by learning simple statistics and they portray a situation that has little to do with police enforcement. Google the article ‘ Blue Lives Matter’ to learn more.
Awwww, boo hoo. The truth hurts. I wonder if rapin’ hos does that stupid pose when she gets beat by the u15 boys soccer team they practice against. She’s milquetoast at what she does for a living and wants more money. I wonder how many millions she gave to the Nike sweatshop workers who make her garbage slave-made goods? Anti gay is just what morons like you cry out when your heros are proven to loudmouth losers. My brother is gay, and he doesn’t give a toss about being represented by self involved egotists disguised as “activists”. Go clean your room.
Gay hating, Paul? Really that’s the card you are pulling? You have completely missed the point of the article. Of course you had to bring Donald Trump into it.
So Paul, how’s your boyfriend Biden working for ya? Like all those babies being thrown over the wall thanks to his rotten, treasonous failed policy? You disgust me and Hollywood Actors and so called Musicians will be called out for their egregious anti American pro Treasonous stance with this i stalked Administration
Rapinoe is a has been. Should have stuck to soccer
Can you imagine is this purple haired Anti- American nut pulled this kind of crap in Afghanistan?
Its highly doubtful most americans would do to well in Lots of other places in the world so not sure where your going with this. Why dont we stop bei g such a polarized society here at home: so many people share the same struggles, putting food on the table, paying the bills, paying rent/mortgage health care costs and on and on. If we all just stopped listening to the news and hack journalist and started listening to your neighbors and those whom you think are wrong wed all find we share much more in common. They all are just keeping us down and in attack mode so there pockets and power keep rising. So for all people of all political parties lets just take a step back. And if you really think Rapino is the reason nobody cares about the olympics then you really just need to take a moment are dig deeep about some things.
While I really didn’t like seeing them kneel for the anthem, I don’t think their antics had much to do with the drop in viewership.
I didn’t watch this Olympics either, and for the first time I can remember I didn’t care to see the opening or closing ceremonies live. Why? That’s simple, it’s because what I love to see is the people. The roaring crowd, athletes, etc are what make it beautiful. With so much of that missing, it just isn’t as enjoyable. Many people I know feel the same way, and that is why I think viewership suffered.
I’m not a fan of Rapinoe (despite being gay myself), but to try to pin such a major change on her and other woke athletes is just silly. Most people don’t stop watching such a diverse event because a very small part of the whole thing upsets them.
If you let a few people you don’t like stop you from enjoying the rest of things you do like, you’ll be a miserable person in no time.
I didn’t know ‘The Joker” played soccer….
Really? Political expression at the Olympics caused a drop in TV audience. I would like to see that evidence in court. Why don’t you try some actual sampling of a generation that has a focus on more important issues like climate change and gross inequity in our society. They see the sham of the world competition especially when cheating Russian athletes continue to participate under the fig leaf banner of the ROC. Get a grip Faux News hysterical “patriots”, clutching your pearl necklaces in shock when real athletes take a stand.
I watched 14 to 15 hours of live coverage per day and didn’t watch a single network broadcast. Every event was available for streaming online and believe it or not there were far more sports to watch than women’s soccer as the fool who wrote this piece seems to believe.
Yep, it was definitely Megan Rapinoe, and not the fact that most of the events were on in the middle of the night. Tell me, do you get paid for being a dumbass?
Bullshit. Using “woke” as you do is racist. Why in the world would we not want Americans to be awake, aware, informed and involved? Not doing so gives our enemies power. Stop pretending to be a journalist and find something else to do. Oh, and speaking of our enemies, we have told every one of them that they don’t need a nuke or even an army to kill hundreds of thousands of us. They just need a deadly bug.
Wait, wait, wait. I thought you said that she (and by extension all US citizens) live in “one of the most gay-friendly countries ever to exist.” In fact, I’m sure you did. How can you claim that and yet place the blame for poor viewership on someone who is deliberately choosing to represent that community *because* she was choosing to represent community? Either this country is indeed so accepting that ” 70% of the US population supports broad LGBTQ protections” OR her lesbian wokeness managed to ruin the Olympics and is making the “red states” go off subway, even though they are so supportive Megan’s activism was clearly unnecessary and even ruinous. You truly cannot have it both ways.
Yeah. Something is not adding up here. Look around, please. We are all struggling, and it only makes sense that with the major changes since 2020 that that the Olympics would not be unaffected.
These athletes strive to be the best and can only hope to have a chance to represent U.S.A.
And then you have this trash who can’t wait to disrespect her own country which she represents in front of the world she is garbage no way would another country stand for that kind of act..Zero respect for the people who still love this county
Yep,
Well all I see is a lot of trolles in these comments.
I did watch a little bit of the Olympics and read some of the articles about this year’s Olympics and what had went down. There was some very heartwarming moments where you could see the compassion and love of the sport as well as for each other as more than just competitors. There is also some BS where media, Olympic officials, even some of the competitors made me sad to think this is the world that we live in, judging others over stupid little s*** that doesn’t even matter.
Although about this article, I can agree with it to an extent. Whereas the Olympics is not somewhere where you really want to dog on your country that you’re competing for. At the same time doing it on television that’s being broadcasted worldwide, it can give hope to those who are oppressed by their countries government. Letting them know that there is hope, and sometimes you have to stand up and fight for it.
I will also agree with the ken’s comment about the ratings. Network television doesn’t have the same attraction that used to. You can flip through all the channels and you find mostly crap. Nowadays everyone is streaming. whether it be, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime, etc.
i am sorry, how can one athlete out of hundreds be the reason for low ratings? are american viewers so infantile that one single player from a whole sports team can ruin a whole month-long event?
this article is nothing more than hate mongering without depth or value. all it is doing is giving people a platform to post vile nonesense. please stick to “Christian theology” instead of social commentary. you obviously have no clue how to do the latter.
Gee Paul… Trumplican much!? Rapinoe was not the issue… The streaming and cable wars are the issue. Had NBC done a better job of making sure those that have cut the cable and don’t subscribe to Peacock could see events, it would have been much different. Not much was offered to be seen by those that don’t pay for cable or Peacock. There’s your issue. Morons want to blame everyone and everything besides the fat cats making millions that control who watches what. Sorry not sorry that I didn’t feel like paying for a service just to watch 14 days of sports, just to try to keep up with what I actually want to see by flipping through 20 different NBC stations.
Most of the stuff you could watch on Peacock FREE. Mind you, some of it you had to wait a bit (a/k/a not live), but that’s what you get ditching cable. We personally watched the majority of the events via nbcsports app, so yeah – needed cable code to watch. Oh well.
The biggest issue with the Tokyo Games was the TIME DIFFERENCE – it always is when the Olympics are in Asia. I would expect next year Winter Games in Beijing to also be low in viewership.
Since 1972 through 2016 I have watched between 20 and 60 hours of Summer Olympic coverage over the two weeks. This year, due 100% to Rapinoe and the hammer thrower, I watched exactly ZERO MINUTES. You want proof she hurt ratings, well here I am. And I am not the only one. People who love America rather than those who hate it should represent the USA.