Anonymous
Years ago

Cambage threatens Olympics boycott over promo photo

Cambage threatens Tokyo boycott over AOC's 'whitewashed’ promo shoots

Australian basketball star Liz Cambage has indicated she will boycott the Tokyo Olympics in protest at a lack of racial diversity in Australian Olympic team promotional shoots.


(Mod: Can you please post a link to the story rather than the entire story? Thanks.)

Topic #48458 | Report this topic


rjd  
Years ago

Does anyone have a recent team photo of the Opals as a comparison?

Reply #847161 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

Not sure if this is the article OP intended, but in case someone wants more detail: news.com.au article

Reply #847163 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

The second image included Indigenous Rugby Sevens player Maurice Longbottom but Cambage wrote: "Also fake tan doesn't equal diversity."

Liz Cambage threatens to boycott Olympics over team photo

Reply #847164 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I think I missed the information where she was actually selected into the Opals team for the Olympics.

Reply #847165 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Cambage captioned the second image, which included Indigenous rugby sevens star Maurice Longbottom, with the comment: "also fake tan doesn't equal diversity."

This has to be her best bat shit crazy statemnt

Reply #847166 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

She seems to always forget she's has equal parts being of mixed race .... and never identifies with one side of her heritage

She’s obviously needing to boost her followers or something lol

Reply #847167 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

She seems to always forget she's has equal parts being of mixed race .... and never identifies with one side of her heritage
That's not how race works.

Reply #847168 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago



Seriously .... she's throws some good tanties doesn’t she haha

Reply #847169 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

AOC response to Cambage's comments:

"We proudly defend our track record on diversity and there will be further photoshoots that reflect our broad diversity of athletes.

With regard to this photoshoot, however, we acknowledge while proud of the athletes involved and proud of our association with Jockey, it should have better reflected the diversity of our Team."

See https://www.olympics.com.au/news/aoc-statement-on-photo-shoot/

Reply #847170 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Part Nigerian is a race though

Reply #847171 | Report this post


LoveBroker  
Years ago

Is she suggesting Maurice Longbottom is not black enough?

Can people imagine if a white person said an indigenous person is not black enough?

Reply #847176 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Don't want someone like her with her victim mindset representing Australia, don't even select her in the team :)

Reply #847177 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Without her we wouldn't be a top 8 team.

Reply #847179 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

She should be banished now, how much more is everybody supposed to take from her? Thanks for doing all of us a favour Liz.

Reply #847182 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Can people imagine if a white person said an indigenous person is not black enough?"

It was said in the other thread and I doubt anyone batted an eyelid.

Reply #847183 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

At what point does it all become tokenistic?

"Hang on better include xx for some diversity"

Part of it comes down to probably the people available there and then in the Olympic team.

You're telling me Patty Mills wouldn’t be in every promo possible if he was around? Or Ben Simmons? Ash Barty? Dylan Alcott?

I get if you’re curating marketing you should attempt a semblance of diversity but the overreaction by Liz is just unhelpful.

Olympics is about stars, the best of the best - doesn’t matter your colour or gender or anything else, if you’re the best you’ll be promo’d everywhere throughout - I’m willing to bet we will see plenty of Mills and Simmons if they play in Tokyo and it’ll be bloody great for basketball!

Reply #847187 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Ket with the truth bomb

Reply #847189 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

No father, left at 3 months.
12 inches taller than avg women
Black in a country that's 85% Caucasian

She has had issues her whole life, her behaviour is a direct result of what’s happened to her and what’s she been through. She will never understand, her mind was moulded different to the norm.

Reply #847192 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Go back to London then

Reply #847193 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

12 inches taller than avg women
The average woman is 5'4", Cambage is 6'8".

Reply #847194 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Tom Maher with the hammer

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/australias-most-successful-womens-coach-tom-maher-disappointed-in-opals-star-liz-cambage-for-threatening-to-boycott-tokyo-olympics/news-story/9c9df7ec653910d7fb025d849765bb73

Reply #847199 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Cambage apologies to Maurice and the calls him a token Poc.
Then says white australia can kiss her ass.

Reply #847200 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I really hope she doesn't play. I'd rather finish last in Tokyo than put her ass on a pedestal. Let her go make millions with a fans only page. Girl is a cancer

Reply #847201 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

Fans only haha, did you use the Google to find that?

Reply #847202 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

No she had an article on News.com claiming she could make millions

Reply #847203 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

https://www.news.com.au/sport/basketball/liz-cambage-jokes-about-raking-in-cash-from-racy-online-content/news-story/3626e06fc1243753d8b337a10c79a548

Reply #847204 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

lol that straight response

Reply #847208 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Unless any of you are 6'8 black women who have grown up in Australia I’m not sure you (or I) are in any position to judge. Going by the comments here however, it’s not too hard to imagine where her emotional reaction comes from.

Regarding the "tan" reference, google “Stolen Generation Australia” and you’ll get a sense of what she’s alluding to.

Reply #847209 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Unless any of you are 6'8 black women who have grown up in Australia I'm not sure you (or I) are in any position to judge."

Those of us that choose to utilize healthy amounts of empathy and common sense sure as hell can.

Liz may be well-intentioned, but that doesn't put her above reasonable criticism.

Reply #847210 | Report this post


rjd  
Years ago

"Unless any of you are 6'8 black women who have grown up in Australia I'm not sure you (or I) are in any position to judge"

Would you like to add well documented mental health struggles too? In that context, I'm not sure the media should even responsibly report on this story. It's borderline unhinged to imply an Indigenous athlete is just wearing fake tan.

Reply #847211 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

She had since explained that she wasn't referring to the Indigenous athlete, as he was obviously Indigenous because he was in the Indigenous uniform (or something) so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on that but it's still entirely selfish to see a promotional picture which is inclusive of disabled athletes and decide to cry "what about meeeee!!!"

It's quite obvious her height has opened more doors for her than those who are missing limbs. She should put some perspective on how privileged she is.

Reply #847212 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Give me a break 847192, we all have challenges in life...being a tall athletic interracial fatherless women who is a talented baller is a life i'd sign up for in a instant from the cradle to the grave ..the problem is if your consumed negatively by race (no matter what colour your skin is) then you see everything through that lense...unfortunately for Liz she has a habit of throwing the toys out of her cot any time she feels slighted without 1st looking into the context (in this case a team photo). But to be fair she probably has managed to get her way with type of behaviour for a long time...This disease effects all types of people In society regardless of skin colour/gender/religion etc..

Reply #847222 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

What high school did Cambage go to?

Reply #847223 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

What does "consumed negatively by race" mean?

Reply #847225 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Have a real think about it and get back to us.

Reply #847228 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

So you don't know what it means but it sounded like a good thing to say.

Reply #847229 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I didn't write it and can tell what it means, because it's pretty obvious given the context.

It also seems appropriate to describe Liz.

Reply #847231 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Racism everywhere!!!!!!

Liz, boycott life til its fixed!

Thanks

Reply #847233 | Report this post


todd  
Years ago

Mother is a CEO and Cambage is in the top 1% of money earners in the world. Massive chip on her shoulders.

Didn't go back to Tulsa in the WNBA because the coach was mean to her and the team expected her to be number 1 player.

Dirty player on the court, yet she complains the most of any player.




Reply #847235 | Report this post


rjd  
Years ago

This is Cambage's clarification:

"I know who Maurice Longbottom is. He was the one wearing the Indigenous special uniform, clearly. And I wasn't saying he was the one with fake tan on. I’m talking about the rest of the photo. One token POC in a photo is not good enough at. @AOC that’s what I’m talking about.

“It’s sad, the whitewashing is sad. Your black athletes lead you everywhere. Indigenous athletes are some of the best athletes we have. An y’all don’t use them at all. And Jockey Australia, you knew exactly what you were doing. You need me to send you a list of all the black or POC athletes that are trying to make it to the Olympics right now that you could use. I’m not even in the country and I can do it.

“So anyway, to Mr Longbottom, I’m sorry that you got caught up in this. I did not think you had fake tan on, I was never saying that, I was saying that for the rest of the photo."


I wonder if she is willing to state who she thinks has fake tan on and how she made such an assessment.

Reply #847238 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

The Liz Cambage travelling sideshow continues it seems. Because she didn't see her favourite race in a particular set of photos, suddenly it's all racism and all of these organizations start flying out of their asses to appease her. This isn't about equality, it's about power and watching people jump through hoops for her. I am sorry Liz, Australia is 70 percent white. Much of the Olympic team is white. Sometimes they're going to be the majority in some areas in life. If you have a problem with that, maybe you're the racist?

I'd like to her boycott the Olympics. She's calling everyone's bluff right now with this shit. If I was coach I'd be selecting some unknown in her place and riding that train all the way to 8th spot. How dare she put her team hostage because there wasn't quite enough melanin in a photo for her sensitivities?

And no, she wouldn't make a mill off OnlyFans. That only further proves how delusional she is.

"Unless any of you are 6'8 black women who have grown up in Australia I'm not sure you (or I) are in any position to judge. Going by the comments here however, it’s not too hard to imagine where her emotional reaction comes from."

Okay, so unless we are literally the exact person who says or does something, we have no right to judge what they say or do, but that person can judge everyone else?

HAHAHA Nice logic!

Reply #847239 | Report this post


rjd  
Years ago

I quoted the shorter version of her response. The longer version is, well, even more what you'd expect to come from Cambage.

"Australia, wake the f*** up," she began. "I'm not playing these games no more, I’m not. You can try and twist my words however you want, it’s not going to work. I’m not taking any media, I’m not doing any interviews, I’m not talking to you listen to this. You’re going to pull this and put this in your story, so I don’t need to talk to you on the phone.

“I know who Maurice Longbottom is. He was the one wearing the Indigenous special uniform, clearly. And I wasn’t saying he was the one with fake tan on. I’m talking about the rest of the photo. One token POC in a photo is not good enough at. @AOC that’s what I’m talking about.

“To all the white Australians in my DMs, in my comments, talking s*** about me here and there, I don’t actually care. Your ignorance is embarrassing and it’s sad and I feel really sorry for you that you have literally zero empathy and lack of respect to even try to understand where I, a black woman, is trying to speak out on the lack of diversity in Australia.

“It’s sad, the whitewashing is sad. Your black athletes lead you everywhere. Indigenous athletes are some of the best athletes we have. An y’all don’t use them at all. And Jockey Australia, you knew exactly what you were doing. You need me to send you a list of all the black or POC athletes that are trying to make it to the Olympics right now that you could use. I’m not even in the country and I can do it.

“So anyway, to Mr Longbottom, I’m sorry that you got caught up in this. I did not think you had fake tan on, I was never saying that, I was saying that for the rest of the photo.

“One POC in a photo is not good enough for me. I shouldn’t have to hold the Australian Olympic Committee and their partners accountable from the other side of the world. And yes, I saw the apology. Words don’t mean anything to me. Actions mean something to me. So let me see it because until then, I’m not buying s***. And that’s just how it is. And I’m going to keep talking my s*** because I’m going to do it for the little girls and the little boys who are people of colour.

“Asian, black, Indigenous — wherever you are from in this whole world, it’s important to see people who look like you in the media. And white Australia, you would never understand that, because you’ve never had to deal with it.

“Anyhoo, I’m going to wrap this up. Maurice Longbottom, I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart that things got twisted today and the media used you as a tool to defer from the real issue that Australia is ignorant, it’s so ignorant and it’s embarrassing. We have a diversity issue, we have an inclusion issue and we have a visibility issue for kids growing up that don’t look anything like them in magazine, on TV, on the news, anywhere.

“And Australia, if you have an issue with my words, you are the issue. And ... you can kiss my black a***. I don’t give a f*** about what you have to say about me. And on that note (kisses the screen), goodnight Australia.

“Oh, and one more thing, for all those people who are saying I’m upset because I’m not a Jockey ambassador, I’m a bit busy with Savage X Fenty if you haven’t noticed. Anyway, goodnight y’all.”

Reply #847240 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

I am sorry Liz, Australia is 70 percent white.
The photos in question are 94% white.

Reply #847241 | Report this post


Anon  
Years ago

Wasn't she born in England.. typical pom.. having a whinge....
Any chance she acknowledge English contribution...
More respect for indigenous and cultures who make / live in Aust... first or last .. we all are one....

Reply #847246 | Report this post


KET  
Years ago

Percentages mean little when an increase of 1 or 2 would change the percentage substantially.

Why would it reflect national population anyway? I can't imagine the Olympic team reflects the population?

We are in a hyper-socially conscious era these days, we aren’t the 50s. I suspect it was very much about logistical availability and just getting a photo done.

If you over-think it, you start to get paranoid and draw cynical conclusions.

Like if Patty Mills gets featured a lot during coverage some idiot is going to say "he’s only there for diversity" despite if/when he does it’s because he’s a god damn star for Australia.

Reply #847250 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Racist Australians indeed !!!

Reply #847251 | Report this post


Anon  
Years ago

Her "boycott" can't come soon enough ...She is an absolute disgrace at every turn , always the brat /victim mentality, and again she’s just got the attention she craves, very unhealthy attitude to have within any sporting group, let alone our national squad .
Her comments are derogatory towards other athletes who work their backsides off for their chosen sports, and don’t need to cause a scene to garner attention.



Reply #847254 | Report this post


Perth fan.  
Years ago

Cheese.

Reply #847255 | Report this post


proud  
Years ago

So the photo in question doesn't have any controversial athletes in it like Bernard Tomic or drug cheats etc in it yet we aren't supposed to support these guys or be glad that they are representing us at the Olympics?

There are definitely different athletes that they could have selected (the beach volleyball tandem with the indigenous lass and her Brazilian team mate would have been great - Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar) but you can't always get every athlete you want months out from an Olympic but you do have to wonder what Liz would have thought had Taliqua or other female indigenous athletes were in the team photo.

Personally I love the photo and how we have disabled and able bodied athletes in the same photo.

Reply #847258 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Likely quite a few Aussies who would like to be overseas now earning a living but are not as privileged as her. Tarnished those photo moments for other athletes, ripped one of the sponsors and called one athlete a token and that he had a fake tan.
That is the current drama mid 2021, what happens next year for the 2022 world cup, she becomes the face of the Opals and all the talk is about her and her views and ego and not the sport or the event.

Reply #847263 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Maybe there is a dance party on that really wants to go to, but it during the Olympics

Reply #847267 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It's pretty clear she wasn't saying the Indigenous athlete was the one with the fake tan.

Reply #847268 | Report this post


LV  
Years ago

Cambage is just another celebrity with a Twitter account, and like some other celebrities she is seriously unhinged (other examples Pete Evans, Magda Szubanski)

Don't pay her too much attention. If she boycotted an Olympics over this it would hurt her more than anything, because the public reaction to her would not be kind. Aussies might finish 7th or something instead of the usual 2nd - 4th but that's alright. No need to appease the craziness.

Reply #847272 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Sorry, what? You're putting Cambage and Magda in the same category as Pete Evans?

Reply #847274 | Report this post


Thunder Jam  
Years ago

The female Mundine.....

Reply #847281 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I'd say the female Bogut, just at opposite ends of the political spectrum

Reply #847284 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

She really does make it hard to support her. Will be a good time when she retires and we can look to a new generation. She's an attention seeker, and she likely upset she wasn’t in the shoot.

Reply #847287 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I hope she plays and brings this diva attitude to the court and the tone deaf FIBA ref's toss her arse game after game.

Reply #847291 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

She has now called Tom Maher abusive. Where's the evidence on that?

Reply #847294 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

So this is Liz's excuse to not play the Olympics!

Good riddance and let’s keep Liz’s race baiting to America she is clearly trying to stir up cr*p

Reply #847301 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It's Liz’s lived experience so even if she made up the "abuse" and is lying you can’t question her because ya’ll know she is like black and he is White!

Her tone in calling him out like that shows she is a racist stirring up trouble, BA should let her know she isn’t going to be selected as this isn’t the sort of behaviour befitting Olympians that Australians want to represent them.

Reply #847302 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Maher? Wait did she name names? Is that on her insta?

Reply #847303 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

She needs to build a bridge and get over herself.

Reply #847304 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Just make sure that bridge is black.

Reply #847311 | Report this post


Jack Toft  
Years ago

Identity politics is always nasty as it is built around victimhood, some say the goal is to use that "victimhood" to manipulate others to get free stuff, or an advantage.

I find the "fake tan" comment highly offensive as well as comments like "I DO NOT CARE FOR A WHITE MAN'S OPINION ON RACIAL ISSUES. NEVER HAVE. NEVER WILL". Now, being offended doesn't necessarily mean you are correct, but saying an indigenous person has "fake tan" is like saying a lesbian has "fake love" for her partner.

To neglect "white people" as a race and to diminish their opinions purely because they are "white" is racist itself.

If Cambage wishes to boycott the Olympics over a PR photo, then that is her choice. Considering she is half Nigerian and half English, she also has the luxury and benefit of access to citizenship in those countries and the luxury of representing them as well.

Reply #847312 | Report this post


Perth fan.  
Years ago

Making threats without follow through is pointless .

Reply #847314 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

I'd hope that a productive discussion is possible if you apply a bit of benefit of the doubt here to distill the issue. i.e.,

- that she wasn't referencing the indigenous athlete with the fake tan remark
- that she would have legitimate feelings about an issue like this
- that the media feeds off opinionated hotheads

Which probably leaves:

- whether she had a fair complaint
- whether it's the ideal way to go about it

The photos including an indigenous athlete and Paralympic athlete show they made some effort but arguably could've gone a touch further. They admitted as much in their response. I like seeing diversity in these sort of promos. As someone said, if Patty Mills was around, he'd probably be a given inclusion as one of the best Australian role models.

As for her approach, well, it's not new for her and looks a bit over the top given it wasn't a complete whitewash. Something like "Hey AOC, you should've used x and y in those promos - they would've been a perfect fit and show the breadth of people we have representing Australia" would've been better. But then, those statements may get made every day and never make the papers because they're not outrageous, and you could argue that you need the brash loudmouths to make social progress.

On the other hand, uncharitable, over the top reactions to things create an echo of reaction which likely dampens a cause, this thread being an easy example.

Reply #847322 | Report this post


Jack Toft  
Years ago

- whether she had a fair complaint


The organisers have gone to some effort to get a mixture of faces in the shots (disabled, men/women, and indigenous/non-indigenous). They will only show who they can get.

The complaint is actually deeper than the Olympics and as such should be more around how PR and advertising work, but generally they overplay minority groups, and use women to sell stuff. If you look at any advert you'll see how the adverts are slanted towards women, who spend more consumer dollars than men. It's natural that advertising will want to keep consumers happy. The Olympics need to get advertisers, so hence you'll see a slightly more women in adverts than men. In general, TV adverts use modestly dressed brunette women with little makeup who are "in control" to manipulate women into buying stuff.

Just watch TV adverts and you'll see what I mean.


- whether it's the ideal way to go about it


Nice people always finish last and so making an "outrageous" stand brings attention to the issue and it's about the only thing she thinks she could do. Makes her look like a spoilt brat, but if she raised the issues with the PR Dept of AOC, they would probably just laugh at her and not listen to her.

Reply #847345 | Report this post


sixtiesrockstar  
Years ago

Is Liz going to jump out on social media when the Nigerian Olympic team produces it's team photo. Or is it just one sided.

Reply #847403 | Report this post


Luuuc  
Years ago

Most times there is a pretty fair issue at the core of Cambage's outbursts, and most times she does a horrible job of getting the buy-in that the issue may deserve.

If she truly believed in "You can't be what you can't see" - which IMO is a pretty decent rule of thumb - then maybe she would put herself in the shoes of a young aspiring olympian that happens to be a POC, rather than just putting herself in the shoes of herself.
In terms of living proof that a person from any background can make it if they're talented and work hard, surely there is no better and more visible example than being seen by the whole world on the olympic stage. How many young players are inspired by some random photo shoot compared to how many are inspired by watching the games themselves?

So seeing a worthy issue and then immediately jumping out of the gate swinging the sledgehammer of boycott ... all that does is paint herself into a corner.
Liz has a very big platform on Instagram. Everything she puts on there is seen immediately by a lot of people, including people in high places.
Surely she could have conveyed her message a lot better without the boycott thing thrown in (and without the fake tan distraction too for that matter)

Because the way it looks now is that she is happy to remove herself as a role model and a performer who is in the top handful of players in the world, and take that visibility away from billions of people, all over some photos that very few people gaf about.
Is that really the ideal way to achieve POC representation?
I would have thought that her point could have still been made very strongly such that the desired change was still made, without exposing the fact that it was not really a deeply considered position that had purely altruistic intent.

Reply #847423 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

Nice post Luuuc.

but if she raised the issues with the PR Dept of AOC, they would probably just laugh at her and not listen to her.
I think it's more likely that they'd be receptive to suggestions or be happy to explain their selections (timeliness, availability, etc).

Reply #847439 | Report this post


Hoopie  
Years ago

And is she thinking at all about the impact on her fellow team-mates so close to the Games? Is she trying to get them to come out in sympathy with her, or positioning herself above them?

Either way, it's a distraction they probably don’t need

Reply #847467 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

Liz raises some great points. I can understand not liking the way she brings it up - she certainly isn't interested slow change or coddling those that are on the fence - and I think thats fine.

Love what she does. She won't always get it 100% right but who does?

Comparing her to Pete Evans is laughable.

Comparing Magda to Pete Evans is even funnier and just shows LVs politics.

Reply #847581 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

But then, those statements may get made every day and never make the papers because they're not outrageous, and you could argue that you need the brash loudmouths to make social progress.
There's also a long, long history of white people telling black people when, where, and how they're allowed to complain about things, as a way to dismiss any complaints they don't want to have to actually deal with (see: Kaepernick, Colin).

Reply #847585 | Report this post




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