Five-time LPGA Tour winner Michelle Wie West hit back at former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he made objectifying remarks about her during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast.
Speaking with Bannon on War Room and reminiscing about Rush Limbaugh, Giuliani told a story involving a round of golf with the deceased right-wing radio host and Wie West at a charity event in 2014. Upset with the “paparazzi” trailing the group, Limbaugh blamed Giuliani for their presence on the course. As Giuliani explained to Bannon, the shutterbugs were there to photograph Wie West, not the two men. Then, Giuliani got offensive.
“On the green is Michele Wie, and she is getting ready to putt,” Giuliani said, in part. “Now Michelle Wie is gorgeous. She’s six feet. And she has a strange putting stance. She bends all the way over. And her panties show. And the press was going crazy. … I said ‘[Rush], it’s not me, it’s not you.’”
Giuliani concluded his story by asking, “Is that OK to tell that joke, I’m not sure?” Bannon replied, “We already told it, so I don’t know.”
After the objectifying comments started to go viral, Wie West ripped into President Trump’s former personal lawyer with a post on Twitter, calling the remarks “highly inappropriate” and “unsettling.”
“What this person should have remembered from that day was the fact that I shot 64 and beat every male golfer in the field leading our team to victory. I shudder thinking that he was smiling to my face and complimenting me on my game while objectifying me and referencing my ‘panties’ behind my back all day,” Wie West wrote.”What should be discussed is the elite skill level that women play at, not what we wear or look like.”
Wie West, 31, also pointed out Giuliani’s ignorance about the type of clothing that many women wear while playing golf.
“My putting stance six years ago was designed to improve my putting stats (I ended up winning the US Open that year), NOT as an invitation to look up my skirt!” she wrote. “Nike makes skirts with SHORTS built in underneath for this exact reason … so that women can feel CONFIDENT and COMFORTABLE playing a game that we love.”
The LPGA issued a statement in support of Wie West on social media.
While it shouldn’t really be a huge surprise Giuliani made offensive remarks while remembering Limbaugh — especially considering that he was talking to Bannon — it is still disappointing he would think telling a story like that would be acceptable. Good for Wie West for firing back so quickly and for the LPGA for having her back.
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