This is incredibly offensive!
The Russian Tennis Federation head, Shamil Tarpischev, has been suspended for a year and fined $25,000 for calling Venus and Serena Williams the ├óΓé¼╦£Williams Brothers.’ He also said, “it’s scary when you really look at them.”
Tarpischev claims he was just joking, but Serena had some strong words for the figurehead.
She said:
“I think the WTA did a great job of taking initiative and taking immediate action to his comments. I thought they were very insensitive and extremely sexist as well as racist at the same time. I thought they were in a way bullying.”
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Any way you look at it, what Tarpischev said was SO wrong! Even though he claims it was all a joke:
“I didn’t want to offend any athlete with my words. I regret that this joke has garnered so much attention. I don’t think this incident deserves so much fuss.”
Hmmm. Not buying it!
We have to agree with Serena that he got the punishment he deserved! Now, we just hope he learned his lesson…