TheU.S. women’s national soccer teamis speaking out about their “ongoing fight for equal pay” in an upcoming documentary onHBO Max.
Ateaser trailer released MondaypromisesLFG— an acronym for “Let’s F—ing Go!” — is coming soon, and shows clips of the featured athletes on the field celebrating, participating in a parade and holding a sign that reads, “EQUAL PAY NOW!”
“If they win, no one wins. If we win, everyone wins,” Rapinoe, 35, says at one point in the trailer.
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Trailer forLFG.HBO Max
The documentary “grants viewers unprecedented access to” behind-the-scenes moments in the team’s fight for equal pay both within their organization and beyond, according to the release.
The gender-discrimination lawsuit the players filed against the U.S. Soccer Federation three months before theirvictory at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup"sets the stage" for the story, which plays out “as they meet the physical demands and pressures of being some of the world’s top athletes, while showcasing their courage, unflinching spirit and resiliency in an effort to create long-lasting social change with the biggest fight for women’s rights since Title IX.”
In the lawsuit,filed in March 2019in Los Angeles federal court under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the players — which includeAlex Morgan, Sauerbrunn, 35, Rapinoe andCarli Lloyd— claimed that they are not paid equally to the men’s national players. They also alleged they have experienced “institutionalized gender discrimination,” despite having the same job responsibilities. (A judge ruled against the players' claims of unequal pay in 2020).
Rapinoe says in the release aboutLFGthat the fight for equal pay — which she, Morgan, 31, and other teammates have spoken about at length in the past — “is so much bigger than ourselves and the Women’s National Team.”
U.S. women’s national soccer team.Richard Heathcote/Getty
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“We’re doing it for the next generationof female soccer players and for womenthroughout the world in all industries and walks of life who are also fighting for equality,” Rapinoe adds.
HBO Max’s executive vice president of non-fiction and live-action family programming, Jennifer O’Connell, says in the press release that the “badass” U.S. women’s national soccer team “is captivating on and off the field.”
“Their domination in soccer, anddetermination to achieve parity with their male counterparts, is awe-inspiring,” says the group’s senior vice president of non-fiction programming, Lizzie Fox.
Fox adds, “This film sheds light on the lengths these players are willing to go tofight for women’s rightsand equality. It’s a story that needs to be told and we can’t wait to share it with audiences everywhere.”
source: people.com
