Fox News host Greg Gutfeld dismissed the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team as “self-important media creations” who he doesn’t even “see as American athletes anymore” after the players took a knee before the game.
Sweden defeated the U.S. by a score of 3-0 but Gutfeld quipped that the U.S. “got the gold in pretentious sanctimony.”
“You know, did they lose because they kneeled? Probably not, because everybody’s kneeling including the people that beat them,” Gutfeld said during a segment of Fox News’ “The Five.”
“But the kneeling has cost me not to care that they lost,” he continued. “I don’t see them as American athletes anymore I see them as self-important media creations.” (RELATED: Poland Sends Home Six Swimmers From The Olympics In Tokyo After Embarrassing Mistake)
Taking a knee began in the NFL with players saying they were exercising their right to protest racism.
Gutfeld said that kneeling has become both annoying and irrelevant: “It had no impact on the game but on the fans it’s like, all this sanctimony, all this virtue signaling, it has worn off.”
The protest may have promoted players like Megan Rapinoe but it hasn’t done much for the sport or for other players, he said. “But the self-righteousness of the woke athlete comes off as the opposite of the athlete persona.” (RELATED: TWITTER POLL: 86.7% Of People Won’t Watch The NFL If Players Kneel During The National Anthem)
Kneeling athletes have transformed the image of athletes from a “hard working, strong ,silent, determined type” into a “whiney … attention-seeking creature,” he claimed.
Team New Zealand takes a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement as players of Team Australia stand prior to the Women’s First Round Group G match between Australia and New Zealand during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Stadium on July 21, 2021 in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
“They may not win the game, buy they got the gold in pretension sanctimony,” he said.
Japan could lose $15 billion on the games because there will be no one watching from the stands. Broadcasts of the games will include scenes of athletes kneeling in protest.