And the award goes to…China.
American-born Eileen Gu, who turned her back on the U.S. to compete for China during this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, has been awarded ESPN’s ‘Best Breakthrough Athlete’ award. The CCP must be thrilled.
According to The New York Post, “Her father is American and her mother is Chinese. She won the gold medal in women’s freestyle big air — and cashed in to the tune of an estimated tens of millions of dollars in Chinese endorsement deals in the process.”
The backlash on social media was swift.
From The New York Post:
“Eileen Gu wins ESPY’s first Benedict Arnold Award,” tweeted Baylor University philosophy professor Francis Beckwith.
Wrote the conservative website the Daily Caller: “ESPN just gave an ESPY for “Breakout Athlete” to Eileen Gu, who chose to compete for communist China rather than Team USA during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Maybe we should give an award like that to American athletes who don’t support China.”
Derek Hunter, a host at WCBM 680 in Baltimore and contributor for conservative site townhall.com, tweeted, “Best communists sell-out to a genocidal regime for a pile of money goes to…Eileen Gu!”
Conservative pundit Stephen Miller tweeted that Gu is “The perfect athlete for ESPN.”
Clip from Gu’s acceptance speech below:
After deciding to compete in the Olympics under the flag of China, Eileen Gu finishes off her Breakout Athlete of the Year speech in style. @ESPYS pic.twitter.com/M9SB250fNf
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 21, 2022