White House photo with women's tennis champs sparks gender bias backlash
The women's tennis team of the University of Georgia was recently invited to the White House on the back of their NCAA championship triumph last year. They not only visited the White House to be honored, but also posed alongside President Donald Trump. However, the resultant photograph sparked significant controversy and backlash. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova also reacted to the photo, as did former women's doubles No. 1 Rennae Stubbs.
The team, consisting of Hayden Mulberry, Mell Reasco, Sofia Rojas, Haley Gaudette, Guillermina Grant, Tatum Buffington, Alexandra Vecic, Sarah Branicki, Aysegul Mert, Mai Nirundorn and Anastasiia Lopata, bizarrely stood behind Trump and five of the University of Georgia's male coaches and staffers. As a result, in the picture, the tennis team, minus absentee Dasha Vidmanova, appeared obscure, with the US President and the coaching staff hogging most of the frame.
Also, in a video posted by White House press aide Margo Martin, Trump was seen shaking the hands of all five male coaches and staffers. However, the 79-year-old did not appear to extend the same gesture to the tennis players who won the NCAA women's championship for the University of Georgia last year.
Several social media users proceeded to lambast President Donald Trump.
"He congratulated these women by shaking hands with 5 men. The men remained up front for the official photo,"
"Yes, let's put the women all the way in the back and let's not shake their hand. Pathetic. No idea why these women would ever want to go to this White House with the idiot running it,"
"If I was one of the players, I wouldn't have gone...that said...if I was forced to be there I wouldn't have been happy not to shake his disgusting hand that has done such evil things to others,"
Martina Navratilova & Rennae Stubbs deliver chastening reactions to photo controversy surrounding Donald Trump and University of Georgia's women's tennis team
Former World No. 1 and 18-time singles major champion Martina Navratilova and former doubles No. 1 Rennae Stubbs, who also briefly coached Serena Williams, were both appalled by the photograph and the video.
On X (formerly Twitter), Navratilova, reacting to the photo, wrote:
"A photo is worth a thousand words..."
Stubbs reacted harshly to the video, writing:
"Imagine shaking the players hands, oh wait, he didnt!"
Navratilova and Stubbs are both fierce critics of the Donald Trump administration from the world of tennis, and have repeatedly criticized the US President over the years.
