Former gymnast Jennifer Sey mocks Megan Rapinoe's trans athlete comments
In an interview with Fox News Digital, former champion gymnast Jennifer Sey took a swipe at women's soccer all-star Megan Rapinoe for shrugging off the uproar over trans athletes competing in women's sports.
Former champion gymnast Jennifer Sey laughed at soccer all-star Megan Rapinoe over her recent comments shrugging off the ability of trans athletes participating in women's sports.
Rapinoe, who recently announced her retirement from professional sports, told Time Magazine last week that women's sports was being "weaponized" by those targeting trans women competing with biological women. Rapinoe called it "total bulls---," adding "show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening."
After hearing Rapinoe's comments, Sey briefly paused and let out a chuckle.
"I'm sorry, I have to collect myself," the 1986 U.S. National Gymnastics gold medalist told Fox News Digital in an interview last week at FreedomFest 2023 in Memphis.
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Gold medal-winning gymnast Jennifer Sey railed against soccer all-star Megan Rapinoe for dismissing the trans athlete controversy. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
She then cited a 2017 match between the U.S. Women's Soccer team and a team made up of 15-year-old high school boys and how the pro-athletes were defeated by the group of male adolescents.
"I guess I would ask her why in [2017] when the best women's soccer team in the world lost to 15-year-old high school boys, how - why was that? How did that happen?" Sey posed to Rapinoe. "An average high school boys team. They lost - the best women's soccer team in the world… There is advantage. This is not trans bigotry. This is about girls and women."
Sey, known more recently as the Levi's executive who was forced to resign after she vocally opposed extended school closures during the COVID pandemic, warned that the normalization of trans athletes in women's sports will eventually eliminate the gender categories altogether.
"We have to acknowledge that biology, testosterone in and of itself, but also having going through male puberty confers advantages. That's why we have separate categories of men's and women's sports. Denying that is denying reality," Sey said. "So, I am very much in favor of protecting women's sports and giving women a fair and even playing field to compete against each other, access the educational opportunities that come from that."
USWNT forward Megan Rapinoe said trans athletes having an advantage in women's sports is "just not happening." (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
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"And I think if we don't stand up now and defend women's spaces, essentially what we're agreeing to is there is no difference. Men do not have physical advantages and there will be no gender categories in sports if we don't say no to it now. There will be no categories," she continued.
The "Levi's Unbuttoned" author also railed against Bud Light's partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, telling Fox News Digital there's "no way out" for the beleaguered beer brand.
"The companies that do would argue it's about inclusion, but what people are rejecting is not the idea of inclusion, they're rejecting an underlying ideology which states that men can be women and that there is no such thing as biology," Sey said. "These companies have taken these stances to curry favor with consumers. And what they've learned very quickly is there's a large portion of consumers that are saying, 'Yeah, no. I don't believe in that. I'm gonna take my business elsewhere.'"
Former Levi's executive Jennifer Sey spoke at the FreedomFest conference on Friday July 14, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
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"Unfortunately, I think for Bud Light, there is now no way out but through," Sey said. "They could have apologized in the beginning to their loyal fans. They did not. And now they've just angered both sides and their business continues to suffer. I think they're certainly scratching their heads about what to do but honestly for them at this point, I think there's no way out, but they have to wait it out. There's no way out but through."
"I think a lot of other companies are probably retrenching and going, 'Okay, how do we just shoot straight up the middle, focus on product, unifying marketing and just basics, business basics. That's my assumption is what they're doing because they've seen what happens to those who do not," she continued.
"If I was an executive at a company, and I was watching the beating that Bud Light's revenues, share and stock price have taken, I would want to avoid that for the brand and business that I worked on. And you can do it by just staying focused on product. The brands - Modelo, Miller, Coors that have taken up the share that Bud lost - they haven't messaged in the opposite way. They've just message straight up the middle on product," she concluded.
Fox News' Kira Mautone contributed to this report.
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