Twitter Conservatives Are Angry That Shaun White Dragged the American Flag in the Snow
Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty
The men’s half-pipe competition in snowboarding is a high-flying, insane-as-hell event which any normal person would die attempting, and American Shaun White is the greatest competitor in the sport’s history. Before last night, he had already won two Olympic golds in the event as well as eight X-Games golds, and even at age 31 he was a threat to win gold in PyeongChang. In last night’s finals, he threw down an incredible run on his first attempt (each snowboarder gets three total, best score counts), and it seemed like it might be good enough for gold on its own. Then Japan’s Ayumu Hirano bettered him by a point, and White couldn’t respond with his second run. That set the stage for his final run, which also the final run of the night, with White needing to beat an extremely high score of 95.25. That’s when he did this:
REDEMPTION FOR SHAUN WHITE!
HE WINS GOLD on his final run in men’s snowboard halfpipe! #BestOfUS#WinterOlympicshttps://t.co/E1XuTKbGvdpic.twitter.com/b4Yn2jVVGN
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 14, 2018
I’m an Olympic nerd who devours summer and winter games alike, and it easily goes into my top-ten moments of all-time. White scores a 97.75, took home his third gold, and put a capstone on the end of a brilliant career.
As you might imagine, White was thrilled. You can see some of his reaction in this video, and you can see even more starting at the 1-hour, 35-minute mark here. There were shouts, hugs, tears, a couple f-bombs, and a lot of American flag-waving.
Since this is 2018, there’s absolutely nothing that can be pure across political lines, and some conservatives watched a miraculous Olympic performance for America and came away…pissed about the flag stuff. It seems White inadvertently dragged the flag through the snow at certain points in his celebration, which is apparently against protocol, and the “flag code” police were out in numbers, and sanctimony levels were high.
Fox News took particular delight in roasting White—maybe because snowboarding is seen as a liberal sport?—with a headline declaring that he was “lit up” on social media. Here are a few examples of the anger that spread on Twitter:
@shaunwhite show that flag some respect! pic.twitter.com/fdJqCCQVkD
— TJ Pagliasotti (@BluePitBull1300) February 14, 2018
Amazingly, that was followed instantly by someone asserting that White dragged the flag on purpose, and it’s because he was from California:
@ChuckNASCAR No one accidentally drags and then “accidentally” steps on it because they are caught up in all the excitement. Lives in CA that says volumes.
— Ann McWhortor (@AMM1942) February 14, 2018
More:
Shaun White is dragging the American flag on the ground, stepping all over it.
— Charean Williams (@NFLCharean) February 14, 2018
No respect for the flag dragging it on the ground.
— Mike (@gunny404) February 14, 2018
Shaun White just broke flag code like six times.
— Luke Perrin (@TheLukePerrin) February 14, 2018
Was watching Shaun white in his gold metal win but then lost respect when he was dragging the flag and then he walkes all over on the biggest stage in front of all the other countries how disrespectful.
— pat ray (@patray1970) February 14, 2018
Shaun White wins the gold, then drags the American flag. Nice. And of course crickets from the MSM
— ????????????????Deplorable Me ????????????????#NotABot (@jrbloom57) February 14, 2018
Proud to see @shaunwhite grab the gold… wish they wouldn’t drag our flag across the ground… blame the Marine in me but minimal effort would show a lot of respect ??????????? #OlympicGames
— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) February 14, 2018
Congrats @shaunwhite – Now can you stop dragging our flag on the ground and stepping on it, please? Show some respect. pic.twitter.com/OjeeM7Melt
— Nathan (@America4Israel) February 14, 2018
I totally just screamed when @shaunwhite won gold. (Sorry @ sister). Except now he has the flag on the ground and I am CRINGING. Stop this madness!
— Mara (@Mara_Elizabeth) February 14, 2018
Am pleased for Shaun White, but he should not be dragging our flag. Show some respect!
— William C Eacho (@AmbEacho) February 14, 2018
Shaun White drags the flag on the ground and my husband and I are cringingggggg.
— Jenna Hatfield (@JennaHatfield) February 14, 2018
The clamor grew enough that White actually had to apologize:
“I remember being handed the flag but I was trying to put my gloves on and hold the flag and get board,” White said. “Honestly, if there was anything, I definitely didn’t mean any disrespect. The flag that’s flying on my house right now is way up there. So sorry for that. But I’m definitely proud — very proud — to be a part of Team USA and being an American and to be representing for everyone back home.”
I don’t really know how to end this post, except to state the obvious: Our political discourse sucks. The Olympics are supposed to be that mythical magical time when differences are put aside, but we can’t even have a great gold medal moment without conservatives losing their minds over a piece of cloth accidentally hitting the ground. For a group that so readily tosses out the term “snowflake,” the hyper-sensitivity over a few actual snowflakes is pretty staggering.