A woman received her 15 seconds of fame after ESPN showed her eating ice cream during the College World Series broadcast, and she’s trying to give it back.
Monday night during the Men’s College World Series championship in Omaha, ESPN zoomed in on two women in the stands racing against the heat to eat their ice cream before it melts. The camera shot prompted play-by-play voice Karl Ravech to innocuously say, “You gotta get it before it melts and it’s liquid,” before noting it was 93 degrees in Omaha.
According to one of the women, Annie, the clip made its way to TikTok and predictably, the 15-second video of her and her friend eating ice cream was met with creepy comments.
@.anniej4 Replying to @a we choose the bear ❤️ @ESPN #mcws #collegeworldseries #hawktuah #womeninsports ♬ original sound – Annie
“It was a 20-second segment of just eating ice cream, or licking our ice cream,” Annie said. “20 seconds! Dedicated, with commentary, to just us eating our ice cream. We all knew, we all knew what direction that video was gonna head in and lo and behold, the creeps of TikTok got ahold of it because we woke up getting compared to the Hawk Tuah Girl, which no shade to her. Girl, do whatever.”
She proceeded to describe the comment section of the ice cream video as “absolutely repulsing,” noting the remarks were coming from men with families in their profile pictures.
“It is so beyond evident that women are not welcome in the sports world,” Annie continued. “We just wanted to enjoy a baseball game. And it was 100 degrees so God forbid we eat some ice cream…It’s like we can’t sit and eat our food in peace.”
When you’re in the crowd of a televised baseball game, particularly behind the dugout, you’re at risk of being shown on camera. But zoning in on these women for 15 seconds as they licked ice cream was bizarre. Also bizarre, was the fact that the same broadcast briefly focused on a woman eating a lollipop less than 20 minutes after the ice cream incident. ESPN switched off the woman with a lollipop after about three seconds, but not before the camera intentionally put her in focus.
It’s not the first time a broadcast focused on someone eating ice cream. Last year, the Atlanta Braves broadcast booth spent time focusing on an older man strategically eating his ice cream cone. But it’s safe to say he didn’t receive nearly as many repulsive or suggestive comments as Annie and her friend did on TikTok.
