A sports analyst mansplained hockey to a female Olympic champion, and she turned it into an empowering lesson
If you’re a woman, there’s a very good chance that you’ve encountered mansplaining—aka a man explaining something to you in a condescending way, as if you’re too stupid to possibly understand on your own. It sucks, but it happens, and apparently, not even women who have competed—and won gold!—in the Olympics are immune.
As Time reported, on January 30th, World Champion gold medalist and National Women’s Hockey League player Kendall Coyne Schofield, who won gold in hockey at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, joined NBC’s Inside The Glass to offer commentary during the Tampa Bay Lightning-Pittsburgh Penguins game. Seems like she couldn’t be more perfect for the gig, right?
Not according to reporter Pierre McGuire, who tried to explain to her where each team was playing, reminding her that she’s not here to be a “fan” on air.
“Tampa’s going to be on your left, Pittsburgh’s going to be on your right. We’re paying you to be an analyst, not be a fan tonight,” he said.
"Tampa's going to be on your left, Pittsburgh's going to be on your right … we're paying you to be an analyst, not be a fan tonight."
Pierre McGuire with a cringe-worthy exchange with Kendall Coyne Schofield (H/T @NHLBlinn). pic.twitter.com/sdaWBGd4DJ
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) January 31, 2019
Considering Coyne Schofield has multiple gold medals in the sport, we’re pretty sure she knows her stuff—and a little better than a fan would, to say the least
McGuire quickly issued a statement after viewers thrashed him on social media, saying that working with Coyne Schofield was a “privilege,” but that “my excitement got the better of me and I should have chosen my words better.”
Statement from Pierre McGuire on last night: pic.twitter.com/DF5Z8cqjk0
— Katie Strang (@KatieJStrang) January 31, 2019
There seem to be no hard feelings on Coyne Schofield’s side, but she did use the incident as a teachable moment:
This past week… pic.twitter.com/h73xEA6QWc
— Kendall Coyne Schofield (@KendallCoyne) January 31, 2019
“I understand why people would think it was inappropriate. If I were watching it at home and saw a man say this to a woman athlete, I would have been offended,” she wrote on Twitter. “But what I also know is how excited Pierre was for me and to be a part of this moment. While I wish it came out differently, I know Pierre doesn’t question my hockey knowledge.”
She continued,
"But, to be honest, that's not what's important. What IS important is for every young girl reading this to know that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks of my hockey knowledge—because I do not doubt my hockey knowledge. I didn't need a gold medal to come to that conclusion. I needed belief in myself. That took time to build and I would never let someone else undo all of that work on the ice—and especially off."
Talk about when they go low, we go high.
