Gabrielle Union is heavily involved in her husband’s NBA career, so much so that she will go on Twitter to call out officials when D-Wade doesn’t get the calls she feels like he deserves. She has even previously gotten into it with Charles Barkley, so she is clearly not afraid to defend Wade in public.
Now Union is speaking out about the notion that women, specifically wives of NBA players like Ayesha Curry, shouldn’t speak out about their feelings on their husband’s games on social media.
In an interview with Basketball Insiders, Union had an epic rant about the notion that women should ‘stay in their own lane.’
And this idea that, ‘Women need to stay in their own lane’? Get the f*ck out of here with that. My lane is whatever the f*ck I want it to be. How about that? For myself – and I’d imagine any other wife of an NBA player – I’m watching at least 82 games each season. Even if I didn’t have any sports knowledge, by the end of 82 games, I probably would’ve developed an opinion! I probably would’ve been able to see patterns! I probably would’ve been able to spot tendencies. From that alone, I’d be able to put together a 140-character tweet!”
As if her message wasn’t clear enough, Union went on to specifically defend Ayesha Curry and LeBron James’ wife Savannah Brinson for how they choose to conduct themselves online.
“Yeah, and it pisses me off that [Stephen Curry’s wife] Ayesha has to deal with this stuff. And it pisses me off that people have ‘decided’ who [LeBron James’ wife] Savannah [Brinson] is just because she opts to not be heavily involved with social media. Whether or not you use social media doesn’t define your soul! You know what I mean? There are dope, cool, amazing mothers and businesswomen – let them live! But this idea that your tweets define who you are or that your lack of tweets define who are is insane. And for people who say that ‘a woman should know her place,’ stop it. Stop. It. My place is where I determine it to be. If I opt to use my voice, good! If I opt not to use my voice, that’s okay too!”
Curry has felt criticism from both trolls and media members alike for her presence online, most infamously her claim that this past year’s NBA Finals were rigged. While Curry’s Finals-were-rigged tweet is easy to mock, Union makes some excellent points. There is no fan more passionate than a wife of a player, so questioning their knowledge or ability to understand the game is ludicrous, no matter how they conduct themselves on social media (or if they choose not to use it at all). Furthermore, anyone who still in 2016 is telling women that they shouldn’t have opinions on sports needs to just go away forever.
(Via: Basketball Insiders)
