A woman on TikTok epically ripped ESPN for showing a full 20 seconds of her eating ice cream during the College World Series championship game, claiming the broadcast team intentionally 'overly sexualized' the moment by lingering for so long.
TikToker Annie (@.anniej4) tore into the network for subjecting her and her friend to a world of commenting perverts online.
The TikTok began with Annie showing a still from the broadcast in which she and her friend were eating ice cream cones on a ridiculously hot day.
Annie started:
"You may or may not have seen this lovely clip of me and my best friend on TV."
"It was a 20-second segment of just us eating ice cream or licking our ice cream."
"20 seconds dedicated, with commentary, to just us eating our ice cream."
She then discussed the immediate sexualization of the clip.
"We all knew what direction that video was gonna head in, and lo and behold, the creeps of TikTok got a hold of it."
"When I tell you the comment section of that video is absolutely repulsing to know that there are people who have families in their profiles and their profile photos just smiling away with the kids that they're raising."
Annie explained that she made the video to show that women are not welcome in the sports world, adding that she and her friend both love baseball and wanted a chance to watch the championship game.
She said:
"I grew up playing softball and my dad played baseball, her brother plays ba — it is, I shouldn't have to explain that."
"But we just wanted to enjoy a baseball game and it was 100 degrees so...God forbid we eat some ice cream."
She also addressed the unfairness that women "can't sit and eat [their] food in peace," adding that she had eaten a hot dog just before the ice cream and hid behind the row in front of her for fear that she would be captured in the broadcast.
Annie continued:
"Instead we let our guards down for literally 5 seconds and the ice cream was melting, comedically fast, I mean we were joking, great idea to get ice cream and not expect it to melt in three seconds."
She went on:
"What is proven time and time again is that women just can't exist in these spaces without something being commented on or drawn attention to, because when I tell you how acutely aware we were... the fact that we were just blasted on TV."
Annie then called out ESPN for "doing this every year."
"They always pan in on women doing it, and it's true. Because what's funnier than a woman licking an ice cream cone or eating a hot dog or something that can be overly sexualized?"
"But ESPN can keep it vague enough, and the ambiguity is what protects them when they just open the door for f**king creeps like this to come in and do whatever they want with it."
Annie proceeded to give ESPN two middle fingers way up.
"Stop contributing to the issue and stop making sports a place where women don't feel safe and welcome."
"We can't eat in peace. We can't wear clothes in peace."
"We literally can't do anything without it being sexualized or absolutely just turned into something way out of context. It's not even the problem of being shown on TV."
She finished the TikTok:
"We were there the whole game. You could have shown us at any point, watching the game. Pan to us when we're fanning ourselves because that's how hot it was down there."
"Anyway be better at your job, ESPN."
You can watch below.
WARNING: NSFW language
Annie's TikTok has been viewed more than 8.4 million times.
Many in the comments think ESPN needs to address the situation and own up to their wrongdoing.
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Others hated that what should have been an enjoyable event turned out to be such a horrible experience for Annie.
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Do better, ESPN.
@thekalenallen/Threads
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