# Chloe Dygert



## coldash (May 7, 2012)

Bit surprised that nobody has mentioned this

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rapha-wholeheartedly-condemns-chloe-dygerts-social-media-conduct/

I guess there will be some strong views both ways on Rapha’s actions


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

I remember when it first blew up in November.

Thing with young folks...they're _very dumb_ about consequences of tying private political commentary to their actual name AKA professional persona, and leaving a trail of either ill-considered or ephemeral or sincerely held but concerning posts on the internet tied to themselves forever.

TBH my niece posts her entire life on snap/instagram and FB, and could really use a hard life lesson about it.


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## Finx (Oct 19, 2017)

This all happened in her past. Why sign her, wait for it to blow up, then condemn her for it?

Same thing happened to Quinn Simmons.

It's super easy to do a background check on social media these days. Why aren't these people doing this before they sign people instead of after?


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

Finx said:


> This all happened in her past. Why sign her, wait for it to blow up, then condemn her for it?
> 
> Same thing happened to Quinn Simmons.
> 
> It's super easy to do a background check on social media these days. Why aren't these people doing this before they sign people instead of after?


They probably don't care until they hear rumblings about it, and then it's "You better fix this".


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

Finx said:


> This all happened in her past. Why sign her, wait for it to blow up, then condemn her for it?
> 
> Same thing happened to Quinn Simmons.
> 
> It's super easy to do a background check on social media these days. Why aren't these people doing this before they sign people instead of after?


The people who signed her aren't the ones complaining. People who sponsor the people who signed her are.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

interestingly it seems to always be someone supporting conservative positions that get bashed and lectured by sponsors, not far left positions.


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## troutmd (Sep 7, 2007)

Finx said:


> It's super easy to do a background check on social media these days. Why aren't these people doing this before they sign people instead of after?


Such brand quality control for the firm.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Srode said:


> interestingly it seems to always be someone supporting conservative positions that get bashed and lectured by sponsors, not far left positions.



Yea well, once up on a time the USA in a world spanning war fought against fascism, called a World War 2 (and the rest of the world remembers it). Now 'conservatives' embrace fascism. And _then _the snowflakes whine about being the _victims_....while simultaneously telling everyone else to not be so fragile.

Funny thing, all of that.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

I always try and keep clear of the politics in any forum so my views are, as far as I can make them, neutral.

Dygert, like many people, should keep clear on making any personal views on social media. That's not right but it is the way it is.

The initial Caynon-SRAM mandated apology was as far as it should have gone (and IMO, further than it should have gone). The Lanterne Rouge has done a YouTube video on this.

The Rapha statement, IMO, is obscenely excessive and could be viewed as corporate bullying. I wonder if they took her mental well-being into account.

I guess there has been a battle to out do each other between the sponsors and Dygert has been the pawn.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

Rapha has actually done considerable outreach to minority riders, so their response to the racial "retweets" (or whatever you kids call them) is understandable from that perspective. I haven't seen any signs of a similar outreach for LGBTQ riders, but I think Rapha probably doesn't want to alienate potential customers from that demographic, either.

Dygert should have realized as a public figure (even a fringe one) her social media would be scrutinized. She is representing the brand(s), which is why so many athletes are crushingly boring shills on social media. It's not like sponsors are beating down the doors of professional cycling with wads of cash in hand- especially women's cycling.

Do I think it's all a bit excessive? Yes. She messed up and apologized. I think that should be it. If the behavior continues, then you have an issue. I think the response made for more negative publicity than the original social media misstep.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

Alaska Mike said:


> Rapha has actually done considerable outreach to minority riders, so their response to the racial "retweets" (or whatever you kids call them) is understandable from that perspective. I haven't seen any signs of a similar outreach for LGBTQ riders, but I think *Rapha probably doesn't want to alienate potential customers from that demographic, either*.
> 
> Dygert should have realized as a public figure (even a fringe one) her social media would be scrutinized. She is representing the brand(s), which is why so many athletes are crushingly boring shills on social media. It's not like sponsors are beating down the doors of professional cycling with wads of cash in hand- especially women's cycling.
> 
> Do I think it's all a bit excessive? Yes. She messed up and apologized. I think that should be it. If the behavior continues, then you have an issue. *I think the response made for more negative publicity than the original social media misstep.*


When a company makes a play for segment(s) of the population they risk alienating some other segment(s) and that's certainly magnified when it gets into politics and news of it becomes more wide spread. Public flogging of a female champion doesn't seem to be a good idea to me, but I'm not a marketing expert so......


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Srode said:


> When a company makes a play for segment(s) of the population they risk alienating some other segment(s) and that's certainly magnified when it gets into politics and news of it becomes more wide spread. Public flogging of a female champion doesn't seem to be a good idea to me, but I'm not a marketing expert so......


A half-hearted corporate boilerplate apology and statement is now '_public flogging_'?? I mean *seriously*? 

And...I think Canyon etc have a very good idea who their demographics are. The amount of attention paid to cycling, period, in the USA is maybe above zero. There's a reason no 'sports channel' in the USA EVER carries it. The amount of Trump cult supporters who care about women's cycling is roughly zero; see how long it took this thread to even appear on a cycling forum? The number of people in the USA who know who Chloe Dygert is _and see her as a victim_.....well this thread has probably the only 2.


This is your Holy Free Market in action. Canyon knows the market for women's racing is in Europe. Canyon knows that the US is half whacko, and her own countrymen supermajority don't know who the gal even is...and know that in countries that actually care about cycling, her opinions hurt their image. And they know that by not saying as little as they did, sponsors and fans would bail. Don't you love Free Markets? I mean, don't you?


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

Marc said:


> A half-hearted corporate boilerplate apology and statement is now '_public flogging_'?? I mean *seriously*?
> 
> And...I think Canyon etc have a very good idea who their demographics are. The amount of attention paid to cycling, period, in the USA is maybe above zero. There's a reason no 'sports channel' in the USA EVER carries it. The amount of Trump cult supporters who care about women's cycling is roughly zero; see how long it took this thread to even appear on a cycling forum? The number of people in the USA who know who Chloe Dygert is _and see her as a victim_.....well this thread has probably the only 2.
> 
> ...


Bingo reply my man. I used to root for her, now I don't give a crap about her. She's young, but she's an adult. She just had to voice her opinion, an unpopular one, in a community that tend to be leaning more on the progressive spectrum. She made her bed, now sleep in it. I'm not gonna feel sorry for her one bit.

Chloe has every right to speak her mind and that is her choice. Now it's time for her to suck it up and live by her conviction. Oh wait... she waivered in front of the mighty corporate dollar. See,.. no conviction whatsoever. Just another dumb twitter-instagram-wannabe fascist with zero conviciton but likes to borrow others' tweet to lob out some "soft attacks".


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

aclinjury said:


> I used to root for her, now I don't give a crap about her. She's young, but she's an adult. She just had to voice her opinion, an unpopular one, in a community that tend to be leaning more on the progressive spectrum.


How very inclusive of you and the 'community'


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## Rashadabd (Sep 17, 2011)

aclinjury said:


> Bingo reply my man. I used to root for her, now I don't give a crap about her. She's young, but she's an adult. She just had to voice her opinion, an unpopular one, in a community that tend to be leaning more on the progressive spectrum. She made her bed, now sleep in it. I'm not gonna feel sorry for her one bit.
> 
> Chloe has every right to speak her mind and that is her choice. Now it's time for her to suck it up and live by her conviction. Oh wait... she waivered in front of the mighty corporate dollar. See,.. no conviction whatsoever. Just another dumb twitter-instagram-wannabe fascist with zero conviciton but likes to borrow others' tweet to lob out some "soft attacks".


I tried to rep you up for this post so hard. :thumbsup:


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

Srode said:


> How very inclusive of you and the 'community'


She got what she deserved. I was hoping that she would double down on her belief, so that Sram/Canyon would can her. But alas, she had zero conviction. Another social media racist sheep bowing down to the corporate dollar. Shut ya trap up if ya can't stand the heat?


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## duriel (Oct 10, 2013)

She's pretty young and maybe she hasn't been around much. She might have been raised in an 'echochamber', plenty of those folks around these parts. 
I don't know her, other than racing. I think Ralpho, saw an opportunity for a headline and went for it.


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## troutmd (Sep 7, 2007)

duriel said:


> She's pretty young and maybe she hasn't been around much. She might have been raised in an 'echochamber', plenty of those folks around these parts.
> I don't know her, other than racing. I think Ralpho, saw an opportunity for a headline and went for it.


So much for Rapha quality control.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

Rapha seem to have missed out the bit about how they support all things great, good and righteous by sourcing some of their stuff from China. An oversight, I’m sure


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

duriel said:


> I think Ralpho, saw an opportunity for a headline and went for it.


An irrelevant fading company in the industry trying desperately to find relevance instead of improving their blah boring awkward kits.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

aclinjury said:


> She got what she deserved. I was hoping that she would double down on her belief, so that Sram/Canyon would can her. But alas, she had zero conviction. Another social media racist sheep bowing down to the corporate dollar. Shut ya trap up if ya can't stand the heat?


Wow, you are just full of hate and anger aren't you, thats sad. Towards someone you don't even know.


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

Srode said:


> interestingly it seems to always be someone supporting conservative positions that get bashed and lectured by sponsors, not far left positions.


Yeah. Those lefties who want to stop global warming, protect people from pandemics, provide medical care for everyone... they _never_ get bashed. How unfair is that?

As for Dygert, her “apology” sounded more like she was sorry for the reaction it caused, rather than supporting these ideas in the first place.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Tainight1985 (Jan 3, 2019)

The tweets she liked weren't political, they were racist and anti-trans. She could support conservative values without supporting racist and anti-trans views.

How does Chloe to to the Olympics in 2021 and walk into the opening ceremony with the rest of the Team USA, when a good number of her USA team mates (not in cycling unfortunately, but other sports) are people of color? How does Rapha keep doing their reaching out to the PoC community (see their latest models out on bikes, they're not all white dudes now), and at the same time have someone who's a brand ambassador promoting racism. If the earlier apology had been "I'm sorry for expressing my racist views, as I now know racism is wrong", then Rapha could have kept quiet. But Chloe said "I'm sorry I offended people with my views". 

SRAM/Canyon should have done a background check

SRAM/Canyon as brands, and as a team, are out for me (I used to support Pauline Fran-Prevot when watching her in xc world cup). There are so many riders who I can support instead who have not voiced such racist/anti-trans views. I'll support the others.


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## KoroninK (Aug 9, 2010)

Marc and aclinjury basically sum up my thoughts on this entire thing.


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## xxl (Mar 19, 2002)

These are things Chloe Dygert "liked":

"Screenshots posted by one Twitter user appear to show Dygert 'liked' a post stating "white privilege doesn’t exist", and another that suggested Colin Kaepernick, the American Football player who took the knee during the US national anthem to protest racial inequality and later settled in a collusion case against the NFL, "realized that if he grew an afro and played the part of victim, he could scam the black community out of millions."

Another Tweet apparently 'liked' by Dygert referenced former US president Donald Trump’s proposal to allow single-sex homeless shelters to refuse transgender people and stated: "Men who self-identify as women, are not actually women, just as children who self-identify as mermaids, are not actually fish."
The posts are no longer 'liked' by Dygert."

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chloe-dygert-apologises-for-social-media-conduct/

Also, there's a big difference between saying "I'm sorry you were offended" and saying "I'm sorry I offended you."


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

Tainight1985 said:


> The tweets she liked weren't political, they were racist and anti-trans. She could support conservative values without supporting racist and anti-trans views.


This is where I am.

I'm not the most tolerant person. My views on racial equity in this country have evolved considerably over the years, and continue to. I don't always understand the minority responses to various injustices, but I must understand that I've never been in the position to feel the need to resort to them.

My understanding of sex and gender are also evolving, although I must admit at a much slower pace. For the most part I stick with "you do you" unless "you doing you" infringes on the rights of someone else. That's why a case like Rachel McKinnon makes it hard for me to develop a viewpoint that isn't riddled with caveats.

So yeah, I can kinda understand where she's coming from and still disagree with her. I don't think she's a reprehensible person for liking a couple tweets. I think she's an idiot for putting herself in that position as an athlete in a vulnerable sport (women's cycling) during a pandemic when sponsor dollars are hard to find. Hell, she's one of the few that actually gets paid.

It's perfectly fine to have an opinion, even an unpopular one. It's also fine to express that opinion, as long as you realize that there could be repercussions. Sorry, that's the reality in the social media world. When you're a public figure, you have to consider how the image you project reflects on those that pay you. To be honest, it's that way for everyone, it's just most of us never get called on the stupid stuff we say online by our employers. But a lot of employers look at online profiles when selecting new employees, and you never know when a tweet will lose you a job.


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