Donald Trump Jr. ridicules transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon who won championship: 'Sorry to all female athletes'
Donald Trump Jr. has lashed out against transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon's victory at the 2019 Masters Worlds in Manchester, England, with several sports personalities echoing his concerns. US President Donald Trump's son tweeted alongside a TownHall story about McKinnon's win, “You can never be woke enough! Sorry to all female athletes who spent their lives mastering their games."
The matter came to light when McKinnon observed the spike in "hate speech" in her Instagram.
“They’re flooding my IG with hate speech," 37-year-old McKinnon tweeted Monday afternoon. "That usually means that some right-wing outlet published something hateful.”
She eventually found it was Don Jr. who was leading the backlash against her controversial win, the New York Daily News reports. “Oh THIS explains the explosion of hate messages I’m getting!!” she tweeted an hour later, attaching a link to his tweet.
However, several Twitter users chimed in echoing Don Jr.'s concerns.
“You couldn’t beat the men. So you got fake tits, call yourself a ‘woman’ to compete in women’s cycling. You’re a disgrace. Pathetic actually,” one tweeted.
“Time for a Transgender division. It’s ridiculous not to," another wrote.
Speaking to the BBC, former women’s cycling champion Victoria Hood also agreed McKinnon had an unfair advantage in the competition.
“The world record has just been beaten today by somebody born male, who now identifies as female, and the gap between them and the next born female competitor was quite a lot,” Hood said. “It is a human right to participate in sport. I don’t think it’s a human right to identify into whichever category you choose.”
In February, Tennis legend Martina Navratilova wrote in an op-ed for Sunday Times saying she doesn't support McKinnon either.
“A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organization is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse the decision and go back to making babies if he so desires,” the nine-time Wimbledon winner opined. “It’s insane and it’s cheating.”