The Toronto Raptors have taken steps this week to atone for the grievous error of suggesting that only women can have babies.
The NBA franchise posted a video Wednesday to celebrate “Women’s History Month” featuring players Malachi Flynn, 24, Precious Achiuwa, 23, and Scottie Barnes, 21.
The now-deleted 13-second clip begins with the prompt, “Beyonce said girls run the world. Why do you think that’s true?”
Flynn responded, “Girls run the world because … they are the only ones who can procreate.”
Achiuwa noted that women “birth everybody.”
Barnes stated that “all women are great because they are queens.”
The Raptors, which are partnered with the You Can Play Project, an LGBT activist group pushing its agenda in sports, issued an apology, stating, “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.”
The organization added, “Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans – we’ll work to do better today and every day after.”
It appears the apology was prompted in part by a number of critiques from relative unknowns on Twitter.
One anti-police user with pronouns in his bio wrote, “If your entire Women Empowerment video has 8 seconds of footage, and the people involved can only come up with ‘women can give birth’ then maybe delete the footage and try something else.”
Another tweeted, “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.”
Just as they were denounced for stating biological facts, the Raptors were subsequently ridiculed for apologizing.
Former NBA player Andrew Bogut tweeted, “Soft as butter @Raptors apologising because one of their players said only women can procreate, during Women History Month! I’ll say it for you. Only WOMEN can have babies.”
Per Sources, an online sports community, tweeted, “Toronto Raptors apologizing for this women’s history month video is embarrassing. Apparently saying only women can be mothers is offensive in some countries…”
The Hodgetwins tweeted, “Men can’t naturally grow a damn human being inside of them, it’s literally impossible. Tell whoever is ‘offended’ by this to f*** off.”
@AGORACOM wrote, “What happened to NBA players being able to express themselves? Or is this Woke poker where some hands are more valuable than others? Transgender men beats Black NBA players praising their moms and wives.”
YouTuber Toby Turner noted, “nothin wrong w/ giving props for the coolest thing a human can do.”
The Toronto Sun reported that the Raptors are hosting a “Women’s Empowerment Night” on March 14, in an effort to “elevate women” and empower them in sport “on and off the court.”
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