Hope Solo claims Megan Rapinoe will "almost bully" members of the US women's national team into taking a knee to join her protest against racial injustice.
Solo, speaking on GOAL's podcast "All of America: The US Women's Soccer Show," said Rapinoe tried to take the other players on the team to the knee "because she really wants to stand up for something in her own special way." " Solo was suspended from the USWNT in August 2016 and Rapinoe did not begin kneeling until September 2016 in solidarity with 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who protested racial injustice and police brutality in August 2016 following Solo's suspension. To kneel for the first time had started. Solo did not return to the team.
"It's our right as Americans to do it any way we want and I think it's really hard for athletes to be on the main stage with so many political issues," Solo said on the podcast. "There is a lot of pressure and ultimately our number one focus should be at the end of the day and always win first."
Rapinoe and several members of the USWNT have become outspoken over the years on a range of topics, from equal pay in sport to racial inequality and LGBTQ+ rights. The protests have made the team the source of controversies several times. Back in 2016, Rapinoe was the first — and at the time, only — player to take a knee on the team, and soon after, American football ruled that players had to stand for the anthem. Rapinoe's teammate, Crystal Dunn, said she feared losing her place on the roster if she took a knee and said she was "overjoyed" for Rapinoe's decision to protest.
CNN reported that the policy for players to stand was originally repealed in June 2020 and was officially voted on in February 2021. The New York Post reported that there is no instance in which players were negatively affected by the decision not to take a knee during the national anthem, and added that the team has stood for the anthem since February.
Solo has not been a member of the USWNT since 2016. After the team's quarter-final loss to Sweden at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Solo called the Swedish national team "a bunch of cowards" because of a defensive style designed to prevent the United States from reaching penalties. He was previously accused of assaulting two family members in 2014, though the charges were eventually dismissed. He was also suspended by the USWNT in 2015 after he borrowed a team van and was arrested for drunk driving.
This is the latest incident in which Solo has criticized Rapinoe. Earlier in 2021, Solo told beIN Sports that Rapinoe and other leaders of the USWNT had signed a collective bargaining agreement, a step behind the team's progress toward receiving wages equal to that of the men's team.