USA soccer star Megan Rapinoe refuses to sing national anthem before World Cup match

U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe did not join her teammates in singing the national anthem before the team’s opening match against Thailand in the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday.

According to multiple news reports, Rapinoe stood on silently as other members of the women’s national soccer team sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to kick-off. 

{mosads}The act comes several years after Rapinoe became the first white player to kneel during the national anthem after former San Francisco 49ers star Colin Kaepernick in 2016 began the protest to bring attention to police brutality and racial inequality.

Since then, the soccer player has refused to join her teammates in singing the anthem, including at another match-up her team recently played in Reims, France, according to Fox News. 

When discussing her decision to protest the national anthem in an interview in May, Rapinoe called herself a “walking protest” to Trump’s policies and said she views her decision to kneel during the anthem as a “F you” to his administration.

“I feel like it’s kind of defiance in and of itself to just be who I am and wear the jersey, and represent it,” Rapinoe said then. “Because I’m as talented as I am, I get to be here, you don’t get to tell me if I can be here or not.”

“So it’s kind of a good ‘F you’ to any sort of inequality or bad sentiments that the [Trump] administration might have towards people who don’t look exactly like him. Which, God help us if we all looked like him,” she added. “Scary. Really scary.”

“Colin Kaepernick very much inspired me, and inspired an entire nation, and still does, to actually think about these things,” she continued.

Rapinoe, 33, is the co-captain of the women’s national soccer team, scoring one of its 13 goals during the game against scoreless Thailand on Tuesday.