OPINION: Gwen Berry’s History Of Racist Tweets And Rape Jokes Won’t Change Her Hero Status

Last weekend, U.S. hammer thrower Gwen Berry became a household name after turning away from the American flag as the National Anthem played during an Olympic trials event. After being celebrated as a hero by the Left, however, Berry’s problematic social media history has suddenly been brought to light.

Berry, who has argued that the National Anthem is racist, appears to have posted tweets hurling racist abuse at Mexican people, Chinese people, and white people. She also made jokes about rape, claimed that she would “stomp on a child,” and repeatedly used the word, “retarded.”

These tweets include:

• “I’m about to rape my lunch.”
• “[Shout out] to all the females that’s gon get drunk, get recked by 4 dudes, then cry rape this weekend.”
• “‘@IThrow: Mexicans just don’t care about ppl’ [laughing emojis].”
• “Just saw this gurl wearing heels with white socks!! What the Hell…[Chinese people] always try to start new trends…smh…ggguuurrrllll.”
• “This lil white boy being bad as hell!! I would smack his ass then stomp him!! Smh #whitepplKids hella disrespectful.”
• “White people are sooo retarded when they are drunk.” 
• “These white chicken freakin themselves right out in this DQ line hahahahahah.”
• “Ewwwqw RT @BigHomieAMess: Julie from [BGC] gotta nice ass body for a white girl.”
• “In class..and mugs calling ppl out!! Hhahaha white people crazy..#ratchet.”
• “[Basketball Wives] is proof that white ppl run they got damn mouths too much n they nosey as hell n they start drama btw crazy blk b*****.”

Some of these tweets were posted before Berry made the U.S. Olympic team in 2016 and 2021, or Team USA in the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival.

Now, by the fluid rules of “cancel culture,” Gwen Berry’s sudden status in society should plummet. She mocked rape victims, hurled racist abuse at a slew of identity groups, and used the R-word.

Like so many “problematic” members of the intersectional Left, however, whether or not to “cancel” is a matter of simple arithmetic. In this case, the hammer thrower has two factors playing in her favor.

First, Berry is an Olympic athlete who is happy to leverage her representation of the country for the “good” of the “movement.” Second, Berry is a member of “important” identity groups, making her valuable as a figure of authority for the Left.

Therefore, these tweets will likely not even be mentioned by any legacy media outlet in the coming days, because Gwen Berry — for now — is just too useful to hold accountable.

This logic applies to other “problematic” figures on the Left. For example, in a sensible society, Ilhan Omar’s demonstrated history of making anti-Semitic comments, or Rashida Tlaib’s propensity to promulgate blood libel propaganda would be immediately disqualifying for representatives in Congress.

But, as members of various intersectional groups the Left aims to leverage to build their coalition of victimhood, their identity serves too great a purpose to justify setting any standards whatsoever.

Luckily for Gwen Berry, she’s still useful. For now.

Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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