Toronto Raptors apologize after controversial Women's History Month video sparks backlash
The Toronto Raptors apologized for a since-deleted Twitter video shared to mark Women's History month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The Toronto Raptors are apologizing for a video the organization created to mark the start of Women’s History month.
“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,” a spokesperson for the Raptors told CTV News Toronto in a statement.
In the now-deleted 13-second video, Precious Achiuwa, Malachi Flynn, and Scottie Barnes are asked the following question: “Beyoncé said Girls Run The World. Why do you think that’s true?”
“They are the only ones that can procreate,” Flynn said.
Achiuwa responds in kind, saying “They birth everybody,” while Barnes answers by saying, “All women are great because they’re all queens.”
Several Twitter users called on the NBA franchise to take the video down.
“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,” one user wrote.
Another questioned who greenlit the post, while one other expressed not every woman can or wants to give birth.
“Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans – we’ll work to do better today and every day after,” the spokesperson said.
The Raptors are set to host a Women's Empowerment home game against the Denver Nuggets on March 14.
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