Megan Rapinoe says she’s not going to the White House unless she’s being “inaugurated.”
The pink-haired co-captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team appeared in a recent episode of Vox’s “Recode Decode” podcast published on Monday. Rapinoe recounted the experience at the end of June when President Donald Trump tweeted at her and said: “Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team.”
Trump also suggested Rapinoe should first “WIN” the World Cup before talking about a White House invitation.
“This is crazy. I mean, what is going on? This is so insane” Rapinoe told Recode’s host Kara Swisher in response to the tweet. She added that she knew her team was going to win so that tweet was “not going to age well.”
“And I was also like, ‘You know what? This is so rude,’” Rapinoe said. “You should be proud, like doing everything you can or not doing anything, right? To make this team successful. People are getting on board. It’s the World Cup. It’s America. You love America. Like, ‘Go USA.’”
As we’ve since seen, Rapinoe and her team did win the World Cup on June 16, despite Trump being “rude.”
When Swisher asked if she would go to the White House, Rapinoe said she wouldn’t think about going to the White House unless she’s “being inducted.” She later corrected herself to say “inaugurated.”
Rapinoe had repeatedly expressed that she’s “not going to the fucking White House,” telling reporters that, “Considering how much time and effort and pride we take in the platform we have, using it for good and leaving the game in a better place and hopefully the world in a better place, I don’t think I would want to go.”
The soccer star has called the president a sexist and misogynist, and she even described herself as “a walking protest.”
She also added: “I would encourage my teammates to think hard about lending that platform or having that co-opted by an administration that doesn’t feel the same way and doesn’t fight for the same things we fight for.”