Former U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder Sam Mewis called Korbin Albert’s selection to the USA Olympic team upsetting in light of her homophobic and transphobic comments and the apparent lack of contrition.
Mewis also called on on USWNT leadership to be more publicly transparent about addressing Albert’s situation.
“Korbin Albert’s selection to this roster is upsetting to a lot of people, especially within our women’s soccer community,” Mewis said yesterday on “The Women’s Game” podcast. “Earlier this year, Korbin had shared some homophobic and transphobic content on her social media. While the team has expressed that they are handling it all internally, and Korbin did issue an apology on her social media, fans and supporters of the team haven’t been privy to any work or ongoing conversations regarding the situation.”
Mewis said that Albert, who is among 18 players named to the U.S. Olympic roster, needs to show soccer fans that she’s working to improve as a person in the wake of the damage she’s caused.
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In April, the Athletic reported that “Albert had previously reposted on her TikTok account a sermon given in a Christian worship space talking about how being gay and ‘feeling transgender’ is wrong. Those reposts and others were resurfaced online earlier this week.”
After the news broke, Albert posted an apology on her Instagram account.
Mewis said that the issue is that members of the LGBTQ community who witnessed an athlete representing the their country endorse anti-trans and anti-gay views haven’t seen any public contrition from Albert other than her social media apology.
“Some players and even head coach Emma Hayes have addressed this issue, maybe even suggesting an opportunity for us all to accept and move on,” Mewis said. “I believe that people should be given an opportunity to change and grow. There are endless opportunities to demonstrate this growth to the community that has been hurt. The actions that were a problem were out in the open. And so to some extent, the growth should be out in the open as well and I think that that is what’s missing from this equation right now.”
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USWNT sisterhood rallies behind Megan Rapinoe after Korbin Albert’s anti-LGBTQ posts
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What’s more, Albert’s apology didn’t mention the LGBTQ community, instead expressing her remorse to “anyone who was offended.”
Mewis, who retired earlier this year, previously endorsed Megan Rapinoe’s Instagram story clapback against Albert on social media. Her sister Kristie, who announced her engagement to English star Sam Kerr last November, did so as well.
As her words and actions have demonstrated, Sam Mewis has frequently been a vocal straight ally to her sister and her LGBTQ teammates in the soccer community.
At the beginning of April, USWNT Captain Lindsay Horan made a surprise appearance on a media conference call to address the team’s response to Albert.
“We’ve worked extremely hard to uphold the integrity of this national team through all of the generations, and we are extremely, extremely sad that this standard was not upheld. Our fans and supporters feel like this is a team that they can rally behind, and it’s so important that they feel and continue to feel undeniably heard and seen,” she said.
As Mewis said, it’s the responsibility of the USWNT to show LGBTQ fans what they’re doing to make things better in order to earn back their trust. And it’s on Albert to demonstrate her growth as a person to everyone.
