Lolo Jones is talking about that date she went on with Blake Griffin “years ago,” but also about the double standard men and women deal with online and in relationships.
Jones confirmed that she, indeed, did go on a date with Blake Griffin a few years ago, and said in an Instagram caption that he was a “terrible kisser.” That caused a bit of a stir earlier this week, especially since Griffin had unceremoniously been traded out of Los Angeles and to the Detroit Pistons.
Jones addressed the date once again in a fantastic interview with Maggie Hendricks on Friday, and the multi-sport athlete went into more detail about the infamous date and how it was blown out of proportion by others.
“The one with Blake Griffin, we went on a date years ago,” Jones said. “It was his rookie season. I’m sure he’s improved his game in all aspects since then.”
Jones made news last month when she flirted with Jimmy Butler in Instagram captions, and she pointed out in the interview with For The Win that the perception most have when a male athlete does something like that is very different than the reaction she received for that, or for the date with Griffin.
“I never meant for it to go viral because I was just responding back. I do think there is a terrible double standard with female athletes and male athletes. That’s the one thing I’m getting frustrated about is. If you look at a male athlete, he can go on all these Instagram model’s or any female’s page, and write heart emojis and write a text, and no one will say he’s a thot, no one will say he’s trying to hook up with this girl, but the moment any girl athlete writes on another athlete’s page, it’s all, ‘She’s a thot! She’s this and that, she’s trying to bang that guy,’ and it’s very frustrating.”
Jones said she goes on Instagram “to to make jokes,” which certainly explains a lot of the comments she’s put out there, but people are going to take them seriously without context. And Jones did say the date with Griffin was one of her worst ever, which added to the interesting week that the now-Piston had. She did point out, however, that things are going well for him comparatively speaking.
“They were like, how can you kick Blake Griffin when he’s down?” Jones said. “I’m like, ‘He’s getting traded from one NBA team to another. Is he really down?’ I just found out I’m not on the Winter Olympics team! He’s made $153 million! He’s dating Kendall Jenner! I’m on Tinder! Who’s really more down?”
She seems to have a good perspective on the date she will always get asked about, and does bring up a good point about public flirting. Guys like Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis always come off as funny when they shoot their shot on Instagram. Jones wonders why, even when she’s just joking around, everyone takes what she posts so seriously.
