Megan Rapinoe criticized for her statement for saying Virgil Van Dijk should have won the award for being cute during the event in Milan.
Megan Rapinoe was criticized for her statement in the post ceremony of the Best FIFA player awards, the USA International was asked who she felt should have won the award for the Men’s best player.
In the below clip, she says Van Dijk should receive the trophy “just for how cute he is”, sparking a huge reaction online. Thus, in response many have reacted against Rapinoe.
So, Megan Rapinoe, a woman who strives for equality and wants female footballers to be praised on ability and not their looks etc, said Van Dijk should of won best player based on his looks…the hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/onWnbGEQYM
— Hed Tastings (@DaneCon1892) September 24, 2019
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Many on the internet called her hypocrite for making this statement, while also claiming to fight against misaogny and gender discrimination.
Many are claiming that it would have been a massive outrage, if a male footballer had said same for a female player, but Rapinoe will not see any consequences.
One user said: “If Virgil Van Dijk said this about Megan Rapinoe he’d be labeled a misogynist and condescending. Harmful to the growth of the women’s game. Would have to write a badly written public apology on Instagram and would be hence forth known as cancelled.”
It seems that Rapinoe said it light-heartedly but the social media did not spare her for the fun she tried to have it after the end of the ceremony in Milan.
Rapinoe won the Best FIFA Women’s player of the year ahead of Alex Morgan and Lucy Bronze, as Rapinoe helped her side to win the World Cup by scoring most number of goals in the tournament and having a phenomenal club year. Thus, making her the favourite to win the award.
While receiving the award, Rapinoe praised Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling and Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly for their stance against racism in the sport and talked about shared responsibility in the game.
