Tiger Woods is under fire after he made an off-color joke with his fellow golfer Justin Thomas during the first round of the Genesis Invitational on February 16. Fans were so upset at Woods that he publicly apologized for handing Thomas a tampon after beating him on a late hole during the golfing match. According to CNN, the pair hugged and laughed as they finished their drive, but the buzz surrounding the moment didn’t let up.
Social media users were quick to point out the sexist nature of the joke, and although some attempted to defend the golfer, the outpour of attention was primarily negative.
?WHY did they think this was funny? WHAT was the purpose of it? HOW are we supposed to remove any stigma around periods and menstrual health if top-level sportsmen are pulling stunts like this & giggling like school boys??@thewellhq https://t.co/RvTQKuh9CO
— Georgie Heath (@GeorgieHeath27) February 17, 2023
Call me woke. Call me a snowflake. Call me “offended”. Whatever. But handing another male golfer a tampon is objectively not funny. It shows the sophistication of a 14 year old schoolboy. @TigerWoods
— Josh Jeffery (@JeffCarnage) February 17, 2023
So instead of enjoying the moment of watching tiger Woods play golf in a pga tour event and how well he played yesterday the focus is on him handing a tampon to JT after out driving him… the media is mental get a grip it’s banter you absolute melons #GenesisInvitational
— Anthoney Lamond (@AnthoneyLamond) February 17, 2023
if tiger spent three months a year bleeding and coping with period pain, they’d make a whole-ass documentary about how champions overcome insurmountable obstacles https://t.co/5bgaUvR8pK
— Alex McDaniel (@AlexMcDaniel) February 17, 2023
Following all of the backlash, Woods issued an apology for offending people. He told reporters, “It was supposed to be all fun and games, and obviously, it hasn’t turned out that way.”
“If I offended anybody, it was not the case; it was just friends having fun. As I said, if I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I’m sorry. It was not intended to be that way. It was just we play pranks on one another all the time, and virally I think this did not come across that way, but between us, it was – it’s different.”
