Fox Sports provided coverage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which prominently featured the United States Women’s National Team. While that was happening, Fox Sports commentators and Fox News were fanning controversy and blasting the USWNT, calling them “unlikeable” and manufacturing outrage over the team standing silent during the national anthem. Both created profits for the Fox Corporation, and Megan Rapinoe wasn’t happy about it.
During a recent interview with Franklin Foer of The Atlantic, Megan Rapinoe was asked about Fox profiting from the event and profiting from the outrage they generated.
“You’d expect Donald Trump to posture in this way. But more troubling is watching the Fox coverage, because Fox is making a ton of money off the U.S. women’s team by broadcasting its matches, but then also recycling a lot of the tropes that you’re describing,” Foer pointed out to Rapinoe.
And Rapinoe wasn’t exactly pleased with what was happening.
“Yeah, it was really disappointing – and the speed with which those comments got into the atmosphere,” Rapinoe said of the criticism the team received from Fox. “Everybody on the right – and everybody who was using hateful language and these tropes – it’s like they have just been waiting since, I don’t know, 2016? 2019? They’ve been waiting for this team to stumble. But when we are perfect, then we are accused of thinking that we’re perfect.”
It’s clear that Rapinoe didn’t think it was fair.
