With talk about so-called “equal pay discrimination” being amplified by U.S. soccer team member Megan Rapinoe in recent months, a video clip that made the rounds in October 2015 is being shared again on social media sites that shows UFC fighter Ronda Rousey being asked about the issue.
Rousey, who was in Australia at the time to promote an upcoming match, was asked the question by a female journalist who is heard off camera. Below is a transcript of the question and Rousey’s answer:
Reporter: “Ronda, Lauren down here from the Herald Sun again. Just another quick one about Angela’s question on equality just before.
We’ve got quite a large pay dispute happening with our Australian women’s soccer team at the moment. Is it frustrating for you as someone who’s so prominent in your sport, and we heard you say on the Ellen Show the other day you are the richest fighter in U.S.A., that that sort of thing is still going on?”
[Boos are heard in the crowd as the question was asked, and Rousey is seen grinning as she heard them]
Rousey: “I think that how much you get paid should have something to do with how much money you bring in. I’m the highest paid fighter not because Dana and Lorenzo wanted to do something nice for the ladies. They do it because I bring in the highest numbers. They do it because I make them the most money. And I think the money that they make should be proportionate to the money that they bring in.”
Watch video of the exchange:
Rousey’s strong answer is in stark contrast to the way Rapinoe and her teammates paint themselves as oppressed victims of the alleged gender discrimination they say they face not just from the U.S. Soccer Federation (team members filed a lawsuit against the USSF back in March) but from, well, everyone:
“I think female athletes in general are at the forefront of every protest in general because we’re gay, we’re women, we’re women of color, we’re sort of everything all at one time,” Rapinoe, one of five openly LGBTQ players on the team, told NBC News on Tuesday.
“We’re unfortunately constantly being oppressed in some sort of way. So I feel like us just being athletes, us just being at the pinnacle of our game is kind of a protest in a way and is sort of defiant in and of itself.”
Rapinoe, who has been engaged in a very public war of words with President Trump, accidentally undercut her own equal pay discrimination argument during an interview she did with MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow a couple of days after the women’s team won the World Cup championship.
When asked by Maddow what fans could do to support the team’s equal pay efforts, here’s what Rapinoe said:
“Fans can come to games. Obviously, national team games would be a hot ticket. But we have nine teams in the NWSL. You can go to your league games. You can support that way. You can buy players’ jerseys, you can lend your support in that way. You can tell your friends about it, you can become season ticket holders. I think in terms of that, that’s the easiest way for fans to get involved.”
Sounds an awful lot like what Rousey said in 2015, doesn’t it? Too bad Maddow was too busy fangirling to call Rapinoe out on how she undermined her own argument.
Related –>> Perfect: The Babylon Bee Has Figured Out The One Person Megan Rapinoe Should Meet When She Visits DC
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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
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