Olympic legend Michael Johnson ripped into Tiger Woods over the golf star’s tampon prank apology.
Michael Johnson, a four-time gold medalist sprinter, took to Twitter to slam Woods, who is under fire for his questionable prank on Justin Thomas during the first round of the Genesis Invitational.
“Apology starting with ‘If I offended anyone’ is no apology,” Johnson wrote in a tweet. “But this is Tiger. Never been a leader and he’s Teflon. Still heralded after all the mistakes so he’s learned nothing. Media focus always on miraculous recovery. Never why the need for recovery.”
The 47-year-old Woods is mounting his latest comeback attempt at Riviera Golf Club in California this weekend. After he out-drove Thomas on the ninth hole on Thursday, he jokingly handed his rival a tampon, a dig at the younger golfer’s strength.
“It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn’t turned out that way,” Woods said after his second round on Friday. “If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun.
“If I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I’m sorry. It was not intended to be that way. It was just, we play pranks on one another all the time and virally I think this did not come across that way but between us it was — it’s different.”
Kara Sugar, the CEO of the Women’s Global Empowerment Fund, said Woods’ “tone-deaf” gag was “misogynistic” and “straight-up disrespectful to women and girls all over the world,” per TMZ.