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Decade-old tweet comes back to bite Megan Rapinoe after Victoria’s Secret announcement

June 18, 2021 | | Print Article

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Victoria’s Secret’s new brand ambassador Megan Rapinoe, the gay, Trump-hating feminist who plays professional soccer when not advocating for LGBT causes, found herself on the wrong side of “woke” this week when an old tweet surfaced.

In the tweet, the social justice warrior was mocking someone for apparently looking Asian.

The tweet from May 19, 2011, and tagged a Twitter account that is no longer active — the account was reportedly Natasha Kai’s, a former U.S. Olympian and professional soccer player from Hawaii. Her heritage is a mix of Caucasian, Filipino, Chinese and Hawaiian.

“@tasha_kai00 u look asian with those closed eyes!” Rapinoe tweeted — it’s not clear what she was responding to.

As of this writing, the tweet — seen below — has not been deleted:

The timing of the old tweet resurfacing couldn’t be worse for Victoria’s Secret.

The women’s lingerie company chose woke over profit this week, succumbing to the hypersensitive left and embarking on a major rebranding.

Gone are the sexy Angels supermodels who’ve long represented the company, with the likes of Rapinoe and others being the answer to Victoria’s Secrets being scrutinized as a “misogynistic corporate culture that trafficked in sexism, sizeism and ageism,” the New York Times reported.

Even the standard size 32B mannequins on display in their stores were nixed, as the forms representing the female figure will now come in new shapes and sizes.

Rapinoe called the company’s traditional marketing approach “really harmful,” and declared that “functionality” is sexy.

“As a gay woman, I think a lot about what we think is sexy, and we are afforded the ability to do that, because I don’t have to wear the traditional sexy thing to be sexy and I don’t think the traditional thing is sexy when it comes to my partner or people I’ve dated,” she told the New York Times. “I think functionality is probably the sexiest thing we could possibly achieve in life. Sometimes just cool is sexy too.”

Other new brand ambassadors include Eileen Gu, a 17-year-old Chinese American freestyle skier; Paloma Elsesser, a 29-year-old biracial model and inclusivity advocate who made the cover of Vogue as a size 14 woman; Priyanka Chopra Jonas, 38, an Indian actor and tech investor; Valentina Sampaio, a Brazilian trans model; South Sudanese refugee Adut Akech; and Amanda de Cadenet, photographer and founder of #Girlgaze, the digital platform for female photographers.

“We are proud to bring together an unparalleled group of trailblazing partners who share a common goal to drive positive change,” Victoria’s Secrets said in a statement. “These extraordinary partners, with their unique backgrounds, interests and passions will collaborate with us to create revolutionary product collections, compelling and inspiring content, new internal associate programs and rally support for causes vital to women.”

We are to assume that Asian women are included in the creed.

While Rapinoe is not going to be pleased, here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

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Tom Tillison
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