England rugby legend James Haskell slams ‘toxic femininity’ after telling women’s rugby star to ‘take the day off’
Haskell quickly deleted the comment after receiving backlash from social media users
Former England rugby star James Haskell has slammed ‘toxic femininity’ after receiving backlash for comments on a podcast.
Haskell read an Instagram post from the account belonging to his ‘The Good, the Bad & the Rugby’ podcast which showed England’s most capped front rows.
The post was criticized by Bristol Bears player Simi Pam.
Pam, who moved to the UK from Nigeria aged 3, has attacked Haskell’s show for not warning the list by including the word ‘masculine’.
She was also aggrieved that Rocky Clark, who won the 2014 World Cup and made 137 appearances for England, was not mentioned in the list.
In a response, Pam said: “I think you meant ‘most England caps – top tier MALE forwards’. Please stop disrespecting women like that… Please please do better.
Haskell then responded by saying, “Take the day off.”
Users came to Pam’s defense and Haskell quickly deleted the comment.
Speaking about the incident, Haskell said, “They call me everything under the sun.”
He added: “My unborn daughter is insulted, I receive death threats, people question everything about me, my integrity.
“I decided to say something, because I feel like I’m right,” he told Telegraph Sport.
Speaking of the response to Pam, Haskell added: “When I told her to have ‘a day off’, I didn’t mean a day off from feminism and fighting for the good fight.
“She’s known to us, and all she had to do if she really wanted to make a difference was send us a message. As a team, we try to do our best, and I felt that the girls [who had put together the graphic] were attacked.
“Other players who are in the professional game have watched it [the Instagram post] and basically said they wouldn’t even think twice.
He went on to talk about the debate, “All he did was polarize people and trivialize what would be an important discussion.
England rugby veteran James Haskell in gender row after telling women’s rugby star to ‘take the day off’
“I know I haven’t faced sexism and misogyny, which are alive and real in everything I see. I know it, but I haven’t experienced it.
“There are so many more important things that could have been done. All they did is [try and ensure] that I will never work in women’s rugby again, because no brand will work with me. I won’t be able to help promote it like I did. And I really wanted to try to improve it.
“A lot of these people feel like they’ve been marginalized and have had all these microaggressions against them, but they’re doing exactly that to me.
“You know, they talk about my toxic masculinity and then they hit you with toxic femininity. It’s so weird and they can’t see it. They say “do better” but they do worse.