Former congresswoman and interim president and CEO of USA Gymnastics Mary Bono was a thing and now she’s gone... Just like that. Four days after she was hired, she’s resigned.
Bono should have never been selected to be president given her proximity to the sexual abuse scandal that rocked USA Gymnastics. But Bono had one major qualification that seemed to trump the fact that she worked for the Faegre Baker Daniels, the law firm that advised Larry Nasser, the team’s doctor and now convicted child molester, on how to handle his sexual molestation charges — Bono is a white woman.
I’m kidding.
Ok, no I’m not.
You’d think that coming off of one of the largest scandals involving a horrific abuse of power and young women that the agency set to govern the sport to ensure that this never happened again would’ve chosen someone without any connections to the accused and now convicted.
It was a question that Olympic gold-medal winners Simone Biles and Aly Raisman asked as soon as Bono was announced.
“Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?” Raisman asked, ESPN reports.
Not to mention, Bono’s ultra-bright white position on former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest against the unarmed killings of black men, women, and children by police.
Yep, Bono not only added her voice to the white nationalist fray but she even went so far as to join team “blackout” the Nike sign on her golf cleats.
In response, Biles tweeted: “*mouth drop* ... don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything.”
In a statement announcing her resignation, Bono cloaked herself in the garment of white woman victimhood and claimed that her resignation was not because of her conflicted past with the law firm that advised sexual predator of the sport where she was now president, or that she had vocally come out against a black man’s protest for the betterment of black people. Nope, it was basically the last stake in her self-inflicted wounding that painted her as an unprotected martyr.
“It is with profound regret, coupled with a deep love for the sport of gymnastics and respect for those who aspire to be great gymnasts, that I today tendered my resignation as the Interim CEO of USA Gymnastics. ... My withdrawal comes in the wake of personal attacks that, left undefended, would have made my leading USAG a liability for the organization,” ESPN reports.
Bono even stood by her blacking out of the Nike sign in protest of Kaepernick becoming the face of the shoe brand’s “Just Do It” campaign.
“He nationally exercised his first amendment right to kneel [during the national anthem]. I exercised mine,” Bono said.
And she’s right. She can hate Kaepernick all she wants. She just can’t hate him and expect to continue to be the president of US Gymnastics.
Goodbye, Bono. We barely got to know you and we’re better because of it.