Knights off base
Vegas NHL team misfires with series of sexist tweets, Nancy Armour writes
There’s nothing funny about sexism.
It doesn’t matter if it’s passed off as Al Michaels’ one-liner or the sly, edgy humor the Vegas Golden Knights tried to claim after a Twitter riff gone very wrong Sunday night. Disparaging women and making jokes at their expense is never OK, and Michaels and the Golden Knights deserved every bit of condemnation and criticism they got.
Probably even more, given the condescending and defensive way in which the NHL’s expansion team defended itself before deleting the tweets and backpedaling some 18 hours later.
“We accept full responsibility for our actions and apologize to those who were offended,” the Golden Knights said in a statement, calling the tweets “in poor taste.”
Rather than list the actual players in the Boston Bruins lineup Sunday, the Golden Knights posted a series of tweets with women’s names.
“Dakota- Sierra, Mandy-Samantha, Autumn-Ruby,” read the tweet for the “Broons Defense Pairs.”
For the scratches, the Golden Knights posted three tweets with 31 names, the last two of which were “Brandi-Lynn, Heather Lynn.”
This was followed by one final tweet that just said “TAMI-LYNN!!!!!!”
It was a reference to the 2012 movie Ted, which was set in Boston and stars Boston superfan Mark Wahlberg. In one scene, Wahlberg ’s character rattles off more than three dozen “white trash” women’s names, trying to guess who his stuffed bear come to life is now seeing.
As a joke, it wasn’t even that funny. It takes too long to explain for those who haven’t seen the movie or, given that it was five years ago, have forgotten it. Not to mention that when thinking of classic, quotable sports movies, Ted wouldn’t appear on anyone’s list.
But that’s beside the point. In trying to trash talk their op-
ponent, the best insult the Golden Knights could come up with was to liken the Bruins to a bunch of girls. And then double down by painting anyone bothered by that as the fun police. Great messages there. Michaels’ was little better, trying to make light of the New York Giants’ tough week by comparing them to Harvey Weinstein. As if five losses to open the season, a disgruntled cornerback and staff shake-up are in any way similar to a sexual predator.
“Sorry I made a reference earlier before, I tried to be a little flip about somebody obviously very much in the news all over the country. It was not meant in that manner,” Michaels said later in the Sunday Night Football broadcast.
“So, my apologies, and we’ll just leave it at that.”
Sorry, but we can no longer do that.
As dozens of women have come forward in recent days to say they were sexually assaulted or harassed by Weinstein, one of the burning questions has been how the Hollywood mogul could get away with it for so many years. How seemingly everyone knew but no one put a stop to it.
Part of the answer lies in the attitude the Golden Knights perpetuated — that it’s OK to disrespect and demean women. That misogyny and sexism is harmless so long as it’s not blatant.
But it’s not OK. It is harmful. Men who abuse women, whether it’s sexually or physically, do it to exert power. This doesn’t happen in a vacuum. For too long, girls and women have been taught that they have little
or no say in how we’re viewed and valued.
We’re told from early on that boys will be boys and we just need to let it go. The taunts and the teasing on the playground. The pulling of hair and the snapping of bras. At some point it turns to leers and the catcalls. Then unnerving remarks and unwanted advances.
When — if — we do speak up or protest, we’re humorless prudes or too politically correct.
“It’s from the movie, Ted,” the Golden Knights said, adding an eye-rolling emoji to their initial response to those who complained or criticized them.
A couple of minutes later, the team posted, “Guess no more Ted references from Golden Knights Twitt-ah dot com,” along with a gif of the movie’s bear saying, “Wow.”
This wasn’t about some people failing to get a joke. This was about the Golden Knights not recognizing casual sexism or their role in fostering it.
“By no means were the tweets intended to disparage females or female hockey players in any way,” the Golden Knights said in their statement Monday. “We do not condone sexism in any form.”
The belated acknowledgment of wrongdoing was welcome. Even better would be mea culpas such as these not being needed in the first place.