Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, two firebrand Republican lawmakers who frequently rail against "cancel culture," are now seeking to cancel soon-to-be U.S. Olympic athlete Gwen Berry after she turned away from the U.S. flag during the anthem this past week to protest systemic racism.
The silent protest from Berry over the weekend at the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, has made her a target of the online right-wing mob and conservative cable news outlets.
"We don't need any more activist athletes," Crenshaw stated Monday on Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "She should be removed from the team. The entire point of the Olympic team is to represent the United States of America. That's the entire point, OK?"
Dan Crenshaw calls for Gwen Berry to be removed from the Olympic team because she turned away from the flag pic.twitter.com/c2xWKLXPPJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 28, 2021
Berry, a Black athlete who has now qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, was not expecting the anthem to be played and said her protest was not planned in advance. She turned her back to the flag and put on a shirt that read "Activist Athlete."
"At this point, y'all are obsessed with me," Berry wrote on Twitter in response to widespread right-wing criticism on Monday.
At this point, y’all are obsessed with me https://t.co/HBWCE28s7x
— Gwen Berry OLY (@MzBerryThrows) June 28, 2021
But it wasn't just Crenshaw who called for Berry's removal from the U.S. Olympic team; Cotton also got in on the "cancel culture" act.
"I don't think it's too much when athletes are competing to wear the Stars and Stripes, to compete under the Stars and Stripes in the Olympics, for them to simply honor that flag and our anthem on the medal stand," Cotton said Monday evening on "Fox News Primetime."
If Gwen Berry is so embarrassed by America, then there’s no reason she needs to compete for our country at the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/8OeXVOPqVd
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) June 29, 2021
"If Ms. Berry is so embarrassed by America, then there's no reason she needs to compete for our country. She should be removed from the Olympic team," the Republican senator added.
On Monday afternoon, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pressed White House press secretary Jen Psaki on whether the Biden administration supported Berry's decision to turn her back to the flag. "Does President Biden think that's appropriate behavior for someone who hopes to represent Team USA?" Doocy asked.
Fox News tried to cancel another Black athlete for activism — and Jen Psaki gave this poignant response pic.twitter.com/mn8h3aSDOd
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 28, 2021
Paski said that she hadn't spoken to the president about the specific matter, but added that Biden stands by the right to protest peacefully.
The president is "incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all that it represents, especially for our men and women serving in uniform all around the world," Psaki responded. "He'd also say, of course, that part of that pride in our country means recognizing there are moments where we, as a country, haven't lived up to our highest ideals," she added. "It means respecting the right of people granted to them in the Constitution to peacefully protest."
