And all this time, I thought tennis was supposed to be the classiest of sports.
Serena Williams dropped it like it was hot on Saturday, celebrating her first singles gold medal by performing an impromptu crip walk, a short dance move popularized by gang members in her hometown of Compton.
The move mostly passed by without incident because crip walk controversies date from the same era in which a bare bottom on "NYPD Blue" was considered risque. The dance was just a dance, a nice homage to Serena's hometown. But then someone overreacted and ginned up a phony controversy on this side of the Atlantic and now the very fabric of our culture is threatened because Serena chose to do a rhythmic shout-out.
Hey, it's great that Serena won a gold medal for the U.S.
I'm just not sure about the wisdom of turning each tennis match into an NFL touchdown celebration.
Hat tip: BadBlue.
YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL PUT OF THE NON-CULTURALLY DIVERSE NEIGHBORHOOD, BUT...
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I just can't get worked up about this...
ReplyDeleteThis is why I refuse to watch or read anything on the olympics...it went from TRUE amatuers to professionals...and now gang membership!
ReplyDeleteI took all sorts of heat from the Breitbart commenters for daring to not care about this.
ReplyDeleteBuzzfeed reported that Serena's half-sister was murdered by the Crips years ago. So they postulated as to why, thinking it was a message. Maybe it's just a dance step that has ameliorated over time to be nothing more.
I've never worked for anything as hard as Serena has worked for the singles' tennis gold. I've never had a gang kill a loved one. I've never shared a locker room with a Russian barbie doll.
Who knows why she did it? Who cares?
McEnroe can be the loveable bad boy, but a black woman can't be herself because it's "bad form"?
Serena's racket had the loudest thing to say. She was demure and respectful at the podium.