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Ava DuVernay has extended a dinner invitation to Megan Rapinoe after the U.S. soccer star scoffed at the idea of visiting the White House during a recent interview.
The director of acclaimed Netflix miniseries “When They See Us” tweeted to Rapinoe on Wednesday, calling the national soccer team’s co-captain a badass.
“Killing it on the field,” she wrote before referencing President Donald Trump’s history of serving athletes fast food at the White House. “Got folks mad cause you don’t wanna eat fast food at their house.”
She continued, “Just keep shining. And I humbly invite you to dinner at my house anytime. Until then, I’ll watch this video of you being cool and epic. Onward!”
In a video clip of an Eight by Eight interview released Tuesday, Rapinoe responds to a question about the prospect of a White House visit by saying, “I’m not going to the fucking White House.”
Her remarks sparked wide praise on social media, and a response from the president himself.
“Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team,” he wrote on Twitter Wednesday, along with a series of other tweets. “Be proud of the Flag that you wear.”
Trump also extended an invitation to the national team in the series of tweets after sneering that the World Cup champion should “WIN first before she TALKS!”
Rapinoe, who helped her team to victory at the 2015 World Cup, notably kneeled during the national anthem at a soccer game in 2016, in solidarity with the peaceful protests for civil rights sparked by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The soccer star is recognized as the first high-profile white or female athlete to have followed Kaepernick’s anti-racism protests by kneeling during the anthem.
Rapinoe told NBC Sports at the time that her protest was “something small” and that she hoped to continue to “spark some meaningful conversation around it.”
The 33-year-old, who came out as gay in 2012, also added at the time: “Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties.”
In an interview with Yahoo Sports last month, Rapinoe referred to herself as a “walking protest” of the Trump administration. The U.S. team is set to play against France on Friday in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
DuVernay, similarly a known critic of Trump, shed light on his past dangerous public rhetoric surrounding the decades-old wrongful convictions of five black and Latino teenagers in “When They See Us,” which was released last month.
In 1989, Trump, then a real estate developer, unforgettably purchased full-page ads that ran in several New York newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty before the teens, accused of the brutal rape of a 28-year-old white female jogger in New York City’s Central Park, ever went to trial.
“When They See Us” spotlights the lives of Antron McCray, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam, who each served time behind bars before their convictions were vacated in 2002.
People on Twitter celebrated the idea of DuVernay and Rapinoe uniting:
REAL LIFE. REAL NEWS. REAL VOICES.
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