UPDATE: Sadiq Khan pulled the Tweet after Heat Street got in touch with his spokesman. We kept a screenshot (below) for posterity.
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Liberal darling Sadiq Khan fell foul of the Twitter mob this morning after failing to give female athletes sufficient credit.
Khan was accused of scrubbing out the triumphs of women tennis players by gushingly praising Andy Murray as the “first player EVER” to win two Olympic golds:
While Murray is indeed the first man to achieve such a feat, he has been soundly beaten to it by two women – Serena and Venus Williams have four golds each.
Murray himself pointed this out when BBC presenter John Inverdale tried to give him the false accolade of first-ever double tennis Olympian:
John Inverdale: you're 1st person to win 2 Olympic tennis golds! Andy Murray: "Venus and Serena have won four each" https://t.co/92ezaXPOo4
— Claire Phipps (@Claire_Phipps) August 15, 2016
But the message clearly did not get through to Khan, who came in for some flak after posting his celebratory message:
@SadiqKhan @ed_griffiths @andy_murray uhhhhh Venus and Serena are people.
— Rosh (@roshETC) August 15, 2016
@SadiqKhan @andy_murray VENUS. SERENA. WOMEN COUNT TOO.
— RandiBop (@RandiBop) August 15, 2016
Apart from Venus and Serena #everydaysexism https://t.co/bgfBThQ3bl
— Harry Phibbs (@harryph) August 15, 2016
Of course, Venus and Serena Williams are not the first athletic-looking females Khan has tried to scrub out.
Another of his victims is the handsome model from the infamous “Beach Body Ready” ad which caused an uproar on London’s Tube network last summer.
One of Khan’s first acts after being elected mayor was to ban the allegedly “body shaming” ad and those like it – keeping toned female figures out of sight, and out of mind.
Heat Street has contacted Khan’s spokesman for comment, but in the meantime that makes it women love, Khan 30.
