Who knew a silly dance could garner so much attention?
The so-called “Trump dance,” the latest craze in athlete celebrations, has taken over sports and news media in recent days. Some in right-wing media have predictably heaped praise on athletes that have chosen to partake in the trend. The irony of this praise was not lost on CNN’s Abby Phillip, who pointed out that many of these right-wing pundits are the same people who have criticized athletes for speaking out about politics in the past.
On Tuesday’s episode of CNN NewsNight, Phillip presented a montage of Fox News personalities doing just that.
CNN put together a video of Fox hosts previously complaining about politics in sports pic.twitter.com/zgOQm51e1R
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 20, 2024
“They’re football players and they’re paid to do a job. They’re not paid to take stands on social issues on the field,” Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer said.
“It’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball,” Laura Ingraham suggested. “Millions elected Trump to be their coach. So keep the political commentary to yourself, or as someone once said, ‘shut up and dribble,'” the Ingraham Angle host said in 2018.
“To be honest, I’m not sure people are losing their minds over players doing the Trump dance on the field. It’s fine,” Phillip said after playing the montage. “But they did lose their minds when NFL players like Colin Kaepernick did not take a political stance but took a social justice stance. There’s a distinction between those two things,” Phillip concluded.
Now, most people’s initial reaction to this entire saga is likely, “Who really gives a sh*t?” And that’s valid. It’s a dance. And to some athletes, it’s probably just a trend to latch onto, not some grand political statement.
But that’s precisely why it’s hilarious to see right-wing commentators put these athletes on a pedestal. They yearn for any level of validation for their political beliefs from sports and pop culture figures, many of whom skew decidedly left. And when these athletes and celebrities say something they disagree with, they’re (as displayed) the first to dismiss their opinions.
Something as minor as athletes performing a silly dance associated with the incoming President is enough for the right-wing media to start its slurp fest, no matter how innocuous or apolitical the athlete’s intentions really are. That’s why Phillip is well within her right to call out the double standard.
It’s yet another example of the ridiculous state of discourse surrounding the “culture wars” in this country. A trend as small as a dance celebration has turned into a multi-day news cycle fueled by the usual suspects.
The vast majority of people who saw these celebrations over the weekend likely met them with either a chuckle or an eye roll. Only the most fervent culture warriors saw this as an opportunity to either praise or criticize athletes.
So if you find yourself audibly sighing over this entire thing, know that you’re not alone. It’s all just as ridiculous as it seems.
[CNN]
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.