The Olympic track-and-field athlete who turned her back on the American flag during the national anthem reportedly seemed to embrace Old Glory in the run-up to the 2016 Olympic Games.
A now-deleted blog post allegedly from Gwen Berry’s blog, circa June 12, 2015, purportedly shows her triumphantly holding the American flag along with text that alludes to her dream of representing the U.S. at the Rio games.
At the Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., last week, Berry turned away during “The Star-Spangled Banner” while she was standing on the podium after winning a bronze medal for third place in the hammer throw.
As a result, Berry, 32, qualified for Team USA and is headed to Tokyo next month for the XXXII Olympiad that was originally scheduled for 2020, but was put on hold because of COVID-19.
Ah, the good old days (2019) when Gwen spent “countless hours of training and determination” to achieve “her dream of representing her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics.” Whose country? HER country! She didn’t seem so proud of the USA when she finally arrived. What changed? pic.twitter.com/zyrAUpA6eU
— Richard A. McGough (@RichardMcGough) July 1, 2021
Berry, who is getting support from the Biden White House, subsequently told the Black News Channel that she takes issue with the obscure third stanza of the anthem. “I never said that I hated the country. I never said that. All I said was I respect my people enough to not stand for or acknowledge something that disrespects them. I love my people. Point blank, period.”
“If you know your history, you know the full song of the national anthem, the third paragraph speaks to slaves in America, our blood being slain…all over the floor. It’s disrespectful and it does not speak for Black Americans. It’s obvious. There’s no question,” she added.
White House provides convenient cover for Olympic qualifier Gwen Berry amid growing backslash https://t.co/pYBS6AZeEf
— Jack Furnari (@JackBPR) June 29, 2021
Berry also claimed that she was “set up” apparently because she raised a fist as a protest at the end of the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2019 Pan American Games where she won a gold medal.
Given all the headlines that Berry made in recent days, the picture of her holding the flag went viral on Twitter, prompting Donald Trump Jr. to raise the possibility of trendy opportunism posing as woke activism.
“Totally not all an act! She was definitely not protesting to get attention for herself and/or maybe some of those woke Nike sponsorship dollars. 100% legit and not at all a cottage industry victimization scheme we see so much of these days,” The ex-president’s son wrote.
In addition to Trump Jr., many social media users are metaphorically dropping the hammer on the hammer thrower. Here is a sampling:
Lol. Updated. pic.twitter.com/iMjrH4GEzo
— KingPin (@KingpinStevens) July 1, 2021
I’m sure she just didn’t realize how oppressed she was by the United States back then in 2016. She’s recently had an epiphany regarding her suffering and persecution.
— KellyGirl (@LoneStarSinger) June 30, 2021
It’s all 🐂💩, She’s just trying to follow Kaepernick, be a social justice warrior, & take it to the bank. Going to have her own Nike ad campaign after the olympics.
— Steve (@Sam33458) June 30, 2021
Doesn’t look soo ashamed of America here to me…
Hmm..
Hmmmmmm…
I wonder who did this to her— your favorites favorite. (@billyfishstick) June 30, 2021
Did she get a book deal yet?
— CharDeeMacDennis (@CharDeeMacDen12) June 30, 2021
This is what the brainwashing main stream media will do to people.
— Beau Jackson (@BeauJacs10) June 30, 2021
When it’s lucrative to carry an American flag, she’ll do it. When it’s lucrative to be the activist who feigns disgust at their country, because that is what is en vogue, she’ll do that too. The same goes for everybody doing this sort of stuff, they are all grifters. 🤷♂️
— ‘ (@K12EU) June 30, 2021
@MzBerryThrows is nothing more than an opportunist.
If she actually had convictions, she would have refused the spot on the Olympics to demonstrate her devotion to her gripes about the Country. Instead she take the spot, gets recognition, then spits on her benefactor.
Fame-whore— Freedom (@heron_flight) June 30, 2021
Looks like the American flag didn’t offend Gwen Berry a few years ago… pic.twitter.com/Wz2aamqDzf
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) June 30, 2021
This image is directly from Gwen Berry’s website.
It looks like her entire “Activist Athlete” bit is an act! pic.twitter.com/m2bGwhvYPN
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) June 30, 2021
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Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
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