Former US Women’s National Team (USWNT) soccer star Hope Solo has
said that her teammate Megan Rapinoe “almost bullied” teammates into kneeling
during the national anthem.

The soccer star made this remark in an interview with Goal
on its All of Us show.

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During the interview, Solo addressed about the political
debates that rose around the team during regarding the athletes‘ decision to
kneel during the national anthem.

Kneeling during the national anthem
became controversial in a way for athletes to express solidarity with the
racial justice movement in the United States.

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“Right now, what I’ve seen is there’s been so much
debate about the kneeling, about the not kneeling. I know most people stand
against discrimination,” Solo said.

“And I live in the south, I live in a very conservative
area here in North Carolina in the south. Obviously, I have friends on both
sides of the aisle, but I think the kneeling thing can be very divisive,” she
added.

This was on display during the Tokyo Olympics, when some
conservatives rooted against the team because of the athletes’ decision to
kneel. Former US President Donald Trump was one among those who criticised the
women, calling them “leftist maniacs” in particular Rapinoe, who he
referred to as the “woman with the purple hair.”

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Earlier, Rapinoe had infuriated Donald Trump by leading the
team’s boycott against visiting the White House after it won the 2019 World
Cup.

“I’ve seen Megan Rapinoe almost bully players into kneeling
because she really wants to stand up for something in her particular way. But
it’s our right as Americans to do it whatever way we’re comfortable with and I
think that’s really hard being on the main stage right now with so many
political issues for athletes,” Solo said.

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The US Women’s National Team has used its platform to
forward a number of social causes, including race, gender and LGBT rights. The
team has also been vocal in its fight to be paid the same as professional men’s
soccer players.

Meanwhile, in 2016, Solo left the USWNT after her contract
was terminated for unsportsmanlike conduct. She called members of Sweden’s team
“cowards.” That incident came after a 2014 arrest in which she was
charged with assaulting two family members, and another ban in 2015 after she
borrowed a team van with her husband and drove while she was drunk.