Ep. 383 — Megan Rapinoe
The Axe Files with David Axelrod
CNN
4.6 • 7.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2020
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Megan Rapinoe, captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, joins David to talk about growing up in a small conservative town, finding and forging her identity, her decorated soccer career and World Cup wins, and on using her platform to engage in progressive activism: from LGBTQ and racial justice to equal pay, electoral politics, and more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Music |
| 0:06.0 | And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with |
| 0:12.5 | your host, David Axelrod. |
| 0:20.2 | Megan Rapinoe is, as my late friend, Harold Washington would say, Sui Jineris, one of a kind, |
| 0:26.3 | luminous and star and leader of the world champion US women soccer team. |
| 0:30.1 | She's increasingly used her platform as a global sports icon to speak out for marginalized |
| 0:35.1 | people and progressive causes. |
| 0:37.0 | Now I don't often say this, but I really was blown away, not just by her story, which |
| 0:42.2 | is pretty remarkable, but by her candor, her depth, and this disarming genuineness, which |
| 0:46.8 | you will hear. |
| 0:48.1 | Before we begin, though one note, Megan is leading a legal battle for pay equity in US soccer, |
| 0:53.0 | which we discuss here, but on Friday, the day after we spoke, the women players suffered |
| 0:57.5 | a legal setback when a federal court judge threw out large portions of their suit. |
| 1:02.0 | They immediately promised an appeal. |
| 1:04.0 | Now, here's my conversation with Megan Rapinoe. |
| 1:08.3 | Hello! |
| 1:09.3 | Hey, Megan. |
| 1:10.3 | Good to be with you. |
| 1:11.3 | Good to see you. |
| 1:12.3 | I'm seeing you in a whole different way, actually, because you're a little bit more |
| 1:20.3 | gay, actually, because your signature blonde hair is not blonde. |
| 1:25.3 | I guess that is a reflection of the times in which we find ourselves. |
... |
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