If you happened to be on Twitter Wednesday, you might have caught a well-intentioned but deeply cringeworthy video featuring three Toronto Raptors players explaining why they thought women were amazing as part of the team’s effort to highlight Women’s History Month.
The video, which was deleted about an hour after it was posted, featured some of the Raptors players explaining why they believed women rule the world (in reference to the Beyonce song).
In the video, we learned that Raptors players believe women “run the world” because “they’re the only ones that can procreate” and that “they birth everybody.” We also learn that the reason all women are great is that “they are all queens.”
saved this before the raptors inevitably deleted
a new candidate for the who-the-hell-approved-this-sports-team-account-tweet hall of fame pic.twitter.com/mwI04AW1I3
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) March 1, 2023
The reactions were, understandably, confused and concerned.
“If none of the players give good answers, it’s OK to just scrap the idea,” said Bally Sports’ Maggie Hendricks.
“If your entire Women Empowerment video has 8 seconds of footage, and the people involved can only come up with “women can give birth” then maybe delete the footage and try something else,” said Gordon Gross.
“Are there any women on staff who could have guided you in a better direction?” asked Twitter user inthefade.
While the team might have hoped that deleting the tweet would have ended the controversy, it left such a bad taste in many people’s mouths that it ended up requiring an official apology.
“We’re an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a mistake (Tuesday),” read a team statement, via the Toronto Sun. “Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff, and our fans – we’ll work to do better today and every day after.”
The Raptors get a second chance at figuring out how to honor women without focusing solely on their ability to give birth when they host Women’s Empowerment Night on March 14 at Scotiabank Arena.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.