US women’s soccer team co-captain Megan Rapinoe has accepted an offer extended to her by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to skip the White House and take a tour of the House of Representatives instead, the New York Post reported.
Just last week, Rapinoe found herself the subject of some high-profile controversy after a video emerged of her refusal to visit with President Trump, should the women’s soccer team win the championships.
A months-old video showing Rapinoe openly rejecting any suggestion of her visiting the White House recently began circulating.
In the clip of a magazine interview, the 33-year-old soccer star is asked if she’s “excited” about the prospect of visiting the White House if the US women’s soccer team wins the championships, to which Rapinoe pulls a face and responds, “I’m not going to the [expletive] White House.”
“No,” she says. “We’re not going to be invited. I doubt it.”
The video quickly spread across social media and got people’s attention, especially the attention of Donald Trump.
Perhaps feeling spurned by the soccer star, he tweeted a series of responses to Rapinoe. In one he wrote, “Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team.”
Pro-Trump supporters were quick to follow suit and bash Rapinoe for her comments.
“So disrespectful of that Woman Soccer player,” one user commented. “It is an honor to be invited to the White House and a great honor to meet our President.”
Another added that they “Haven’t watched any soccer games because of her outrageous behavior to President Trump and our country!”
In response to the backlash she faced, Rapinoe said she stands by everything she said.
She does, however, regret some of her word choice, particularly her use of expletives in the interview.
“My mom will be very upset about that,” she admitted with a cheeky smile in a recent interview.
Now, inserting herself into the feud, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered up a different D.C. visit for Rapinoe and her team.
She extended an offer to the team to come and take a tour of the House of Representatives “anytime they’d like”, saying that they would be happily welcomed there.
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Ayanna Pressley, another freshman Democratic Representative in Congress, seconded AOC’s offer.
“No doubt the food & the company would be much better,” she wrote in a tweet responding to Ocasio-Cortez, and then sweetened the pot for Rapinoe a little by adding, “I’ll bring the red velvet cake.”
So of course, there was no way the soccer star could refuse.
Just hours after the offer was extended, Rapinoe tweeted her response back to AOC.
“Consider it done,” she wrote, much to the delight of her fans and to Ocasio-Cortez herself who replied , “Yes!”
So it appears the entire US women’s soccer team will be paying a visit to D.C. after all, though they’ll definitely be skipping the White House in favor of meeting up with AOC on Capitol Hill. There’s nicer people there, and they’ll definitely get a warmer welcome.
h/t: New York Post
