Hope Solo had some interesting things to say about her former teammate Megan Rapinoe. The former U.S. Women’s Soccer National Team player appeared on the podcast All of Us: The U.S. Women’s Show last Tuesday and accused Rapinoe of bullying players into kneeling during the national anthem.
“I’ve seen Megan Rapinoe almost bully players into kneeling because she really wants to stand up for something in her particular way, but it’s our right as Americans to do it in whatever way we’re comfortable with,” Solo said while also mentioning she appreciates “the fact that there’s no national anthem right before the game to really remove that decision from athletes,” per Newsweek.
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One of the other things Solo mentioned is it’s difficult being an athlete today because of the pressure to speak up on political issues. “I think that’s really hard being on the main stage right now with so many political issues for athletes,” she said. “There’s a lot of pressure, and ultimately at the end of the day, our number one focus should be and always has been to win first.”
Rapinoe has been outspoken on a number of issues over the last few years, including equal rights for women and minorities. The soccer star also had no problems calling out Donald Trump when he was the president.
“We know that mass incarceration is bad for society and ends up costing us more money in the long run, the war on drugs, whatever it may be,” Rapinoe said on Vice TV in May 2020. “I think that that has proven to be really detrimental. Now, obviously, we have a white nationalist — I think — in the White House and the spewing of hate and the ‘othering’ of the rest of the country has only led to more rift between people and more despair and more anxiety and more fear going forward.” She also talked about what she would do if she ran for president.
“I want the biggest, baddest post,” Rapinoe said. “That way, I can be the president, but then I get to pick everyone else who’s way smarter and way more qualified and way better at everything to actually do the thing. I’m not here being like ‘I’m the smartest, I should be the president.’ I’m actually like ‘I’m wholly unqualified for probably any position in government,’ but I’ve got that little bit of humility where I can be like ‘You’re smarter, you do this, you do this, you do this.’”
