Chip Somodevilla/Carly Grenfell/PGA of America/Getty Images
- Rudy Giuliani shared a juvenile story about pro-golfer Michelle Wie on Steve Bannon’s podcast on Thursday.
- Giuliani recalled a charity event in 2014 where Wie’s “strange putting stance” showed her “panties.”
- The golfer tweeted: “I shudder thinking that he was smiling to my face…while objectifying me.”
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Professional golfer Michelle Wie West clapped back at former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani after he shared a story about being able to see her underwear as she putted during a charity fundraiser in 2014.
Giuliani appeared on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on Thursday to speak about conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who died earlier that day.
During the podcast, Giuliani, aged 76, reminisced about playing golf alongside Limbaugh and Wie West during a charity event back in 2014.
The former New York City mayor recalled that Limbaugh was complaining about the presence of “paparazzi” who were following the group around had blamed Giuliani’s presence for it.
But Giuliani told Limbaugh that the photographers were actually only there for Wie West.
“On the green is Michelle Wie and she is getting ready to putt,” Giuliani said. “Now Michelle Wie is gorgeous. She’s six feet. And she has a strange putting stance. She bends all the way over. And her panties show. And the press was going crazy…They were trying to take pictures of her panties.”
“I said ‘[Rush], it’s not me, it’s not you. It’s her panties,” Giuliani continued.
After an uncomfortable silence, Giuliani asks: “Is it OK to tell that joke?”
“We already told it so, I don’t know,” Bannon responded.
Watch the moment below:
—Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) February 19, 2021
Wie West took to Twitter to respond to the podcast on Friday night, saying that it was “unsettling” to hear the “highly inappropriate” story.
Wie, who does not address Giuliani by name, wrote: “What this person should have remembered from that day was the fact that I shot 64 and beat every male golfer in the field, leading our team to victory.
“I shudder thinking he was smiling to my face and complimenting my game while objectifying me and referencing my ‘panties’ behind my back all day,” she continued.
“What should be discussed is the elite skill level that women play at, not what we wear or look like. My putting stance six years ago was designed to improve my putting stats (I ended up winning the US Open that year), NOT as an invitation to look up my skirt!” Wie West added.
—Michelle Wie (@MichelleWieWest) February 20, 2021
Wie West’s tweet has since gotten more than 66,000 likes and also the support of The United States Golf Association (USGA), which tweeted on Friday: “Sexism has no place in golf or in life. We are always in your corner.”
Wie West is a five-time winner on the LPGA tour. At the age of just 10, she was the youngest player ever to qualify for a USGA amateur championship.
She won the US Women’s Open in 2014 and is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter in June.