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The #MeToo movement has questions for gold medalist Shaun White
The 2018 Winter Olympic Games, held this year in Pyeongchang, South Korea, have captured the attention of millions of sports fans. So far, most of the press has focused on the diplomatic value of the international athletics event. However, it's also been exciting enough in its own right and a number of proud Americans have already brought home gold medals. Among these champions is 31-year-old Shaun White, the professional snowboarder, skateboarder and musician, who currently holds the record for the most gold medals at ESPN's extreme sports event, the X-Games.
This week, White managed the impressive feat of winning his third Olympic gold medal at the men's halfpipe event, with a score of 97.75 - grabbing the 100th gold medal for the USA in the winter Olympics. Typically, this display of skill would be cause for a national celebration - but not in the case of White. His gold medal win has been soured by controversy, and yet activists representing the #MeToo movement (a hashtag on Twitter formed in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein sex abuse scandal, aimed at combating sexual harassment and exploitation in the workplace) believe that White is getting off too lightly. They feel as though the public is being kept ignorant of the sexual harassment accusations White has faced.
In 2016, White's Bad Things bandmate Lena Zawaideh took him to court, accusing him of sending her sexually explicit and inappropriate messages and of making lewd and bullying comments around her. The closer you look at the details of the trial, the more bizarre the facts appear. Zawaideh claimed that White often sent her pornography and forced her to watch a video of two people engaging in sexual intercourse on top of a dead bear, as well as another video which involved people dressed as members of the clergy engaging in coprophilia when she was 17 years old. Texts included images with pornographic and racist depictions of black men, pictures of erect male genitalia, and comments about Zawaideh's boyfriend. Zawaideh also claimed that, on one occasion, White shoved his hands down his pants and forced her to smell them, and attempted to kiss and grope her while intoxicated at a Halloween party.
White also apparently policed Zawaideh's behaviour closely, controlling the way she dressed and cut her hair, and apparently once threatened to send her home before a gig because he didn’t like a fleece sweater she was wearing. In one of White's text messages, which were obtained by TMZ, White asked Zawaideh to "go out in the morning and have your hair cut in a new style above the shoulder or above, but keep your bangs." When Zawaideh replied that she had no intention of changing her hairstyle, White answered "That's disappointing ... are u sure this is the decision u want to make? [sic]"
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White also apparently became hostile and threatening after losing at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the suit alleges that White was financially withholding. It claims that White neglected to pay his fellow Bad Things bandmates their monthly salary when their day jobs interfered with practice. Later on, White apparently reinstated pay to everyone apart from Zawaideh, and after she was fired from the band later that year, White did not send her a contractual retainer or a pro-rata share of profits. She has still not received these, which total approximately $42,000 in back payments.
In a statement made during the course of the suit, Zawaideh said: "I am pursuing this case because women should not have to tolerate harassment at work ... Shaun White should not be allowed to do whatever he wants just because he is famous. Although I am embarrassed to have been treated this way, I cannot sit by and watch him do this to other women."
For his part, Shaun White has wholeheartedly denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, although he has accepted responsibility for the texts, some of which he admitted were inappropriate. White's attorney, Kerry Garvis Wright, stated on his behalf: "Many years ago, I exchanged texts with a friend who is now using them to craft a bogus lawsuit. There is absolutely no coincidence to the timing of her claims, and we will defend this vigorously in court." White and Zawaideh apparently reached an out-of-court settlement in May 2017, although the terms have not been made publicly available.
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We will probably never know, due to the settlement, whether or not the allegations against White are true: the settlement was reached either because White wanted to avoid bad publicity and drawing the trial out, or because he knew that he would be found guilty regardless. Yet a number of advocates have noted that reports of the allegations have been notably absent from journalists' correspondence of the Olympic games, and have accused White of flying under the radar.
In an age where men who have abused their positions of power are beginning to be held accountable for their actions, White has more or less escaped notice. At an Olympic Committee news conference held shortly after the big win, White deflected comments about his prior allegations, stating "Honestly, I’m here to talk about the Olympics, not gossip. I am who I am, and I’m proud of who I am and my friends love me and vouch for me and I think that stands on its own." Maybe it did once, but many would now disagree.
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