Sports Illustrated writer Andy Benoit made a dumb blanket statement about women’s sports and was deservedly criticized for it. But Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers’ takedown of Benoit on Wednesday was the best of all.
Benoit, who writes about the NFL and contributes to The MMQB, tweeted in reference to the Women’s World Cup that “women’s sports in general (aren’t) worth watching.” So on Wednesday night’s episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Poehler and her fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum resurrected an old “Weekend Update” segment to give Benoit a piece of their minds.
Benoit deleted his tweets and apologized Tuesday for his comments, but Poehler and Meyers still make an important point. It’s not surprising that an NFL writer wouldn’t be a fan of a game some Americans find “boring,” but discrediting an entire gender’s athletic talent simply because you don’t prefer to watch them play is ignorant. And, as the comedians mentioned, the subjective opinion that “no one likes women’s sports” forces their coverage to hard-to-find, secondary networks regardless of their ratings.
Not to mention, it might lead to your Wikipedia page getting a little update, too. You can click the photo for a bigger image.
