Professional athletes taking a stand for social issues was back in the news this week after the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team declared they would refuse to visit the White House if invited.
Members of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, who won the World Cup on Sunday, have spoken out repeatedly for equal pay, and sued U.S Soccer for gender discrimination. The lawsuit, filed in March in U.S. District Court, alleges that U.S. Soccer “paid only lip service to gender equality.”
Jessica Lubell, 58, thinks professional sports figures’ public opinions influence people and that “all athletes have freedom of speech.”
The World Cup championship team follows other professional athletes like Colin Kaepernick, who expressed his political and social views even when it put his career in jeopardy. In 2016, Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality against African Americans.
Megan Rapinoe, a member of the Women’s National Soccer team, has kneeled during the national anthem in past games. Last week, Rapinoe said she would not visit the White House in a video that went viral.
Some people in Washington, D.C interviewed this week said athletes shouldn’t be afraid to use their freedom of speech and their views can influence people, especially their fans.
But, others think athletes’ views don’t influence people.
American University student Jake Masucci, 19, believed that famous people’s public opinions have “no influence on me but see how they can for other people.”
The athletes’ protests sparked outrage by many in the United States, including President Donald Trump. In a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll from 2018, more than half of respondents said it was “never appropriate” to kneel during the national anthem.
President Donald Trump tweeted in 2018 that, “The NFL players are at it again – taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem. Numerous players, from different teams, wanted to show their ‘outrage’ at something that most of them are unable to define. They make a fortune doing what they love.”
Dana Spencer, 25, supports athletes kneeling during the national anthem.
Spencer believes it is “a great way to bring a touch to an issue.”
In a 2003 article titled “The Influence of Famous Athletes on Health Beliefs and Practices” in the Journal of Health Communication, the authors wrote that sports stars do influence the thinking of their fans.
“Results indicate parasocial interaction with an athlete regarded as a public role model likely leads to audience identification with that person, which in turn promotes certain attitudes and beliefs,” the study said.
Radhika Mehta, 17, has views that support that research.
“A lot of people look up to athletes and it might influence others to think the same politically and socially,” Mehta said.