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The Toronto Raptors have issued an apology after a video meant to honour Women’s History Month was hit with backlash.
The video was clearly well-intentioned, with three team members — Scottie Barnes, Malachi Flynn and Precious Achiuwa — attempting to the virtues of women, one at a time, as they each answer the question, “Beyoncé said girls run the world. Why do you think that’s true?”
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Two of the responses, however, raised eyebrows: Flynn’s statement, “They are the only ones that can procreate,” and Achiuwa’s “They birth everybody.”
The team quickly removed the video and issued an apology.
“We’re an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a mistake yesterday,” a Raptors spokesperson said in a statement to the Toronto Star. “Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans — we’ll work to do better today and every day after.”
Flynn and Achiuwa’s statements were slammed on social media, with numerous Twitter users lambasting the video as “tone deaf.”
The @Raptors should spend the next month providing education to their players on ways women are awesome beyond our biology. Not all women can, or want to, give birth. https://t.co/RYF1OoAMuV pic.twitter.com/SpLIuKWVhk
— Judge Judy and Executioner (@JudgyJudes) March 1, 2023
This was the most tone-deaf thing I’d seen in a while. Great work on deciding to post that video, Raptors. https://t.co/EFZpm2dQgj
— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) March 1, 2023
saved this before the raptors inevitably deleted
a new candidate for the who-the-hell-approved-this-sports-team-account-tweet hall of fame pic.twitter.com/mwI04AW1I3
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) March 1, 2023
In case you were worried no sports team would completely bungle their Women’s Empowerment Month goodwill this year, here’s an already-deleted video from the Toronto Raptors. Speechless. pic.twitter.com/8CjVoaor8I
— Jackson Roberts (@jrobertsbsbl) March 1, 2023