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Tiger Woods outdrove Justin Thomas in the first round of the Genesis Invitational and mocked his friend and counterpart by handing him a tampon, implying that he wasn't as manly as Woods since he couldn't drive as far.
This joke, as brief as it was, caused a firestorm. Woods came under fire for his insensitivity and perceived sexism. Many called him out and he eventually apologized for the ill-conceived prank.
Not everyone felt like it was apology-worthy, though. NBA analyst and celebrity golfer Charles Barkley was one of those people.
Barkley said:
"Tiger, to me, is the greatest golfer ever...but I was deeply disturbed to the tampon joke situation. I'm disgusted that he apologized. I'm not going to lie. These people, and you know who you are, who all of a sudden want to try and cancel- I ain't never tried to cancel anybody."
He railed at those upset with Tiger Woods and said he shouldn't have apologized at all:
"Somebody makes a mistake, apologize, keep it moving. I don't know where we got to the point where we can't even tell jokes anymore. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch and just sit idly by and let people do that. So Tiger, you're the GOAT, you should not have apologized."
He finished by pointing those upset by it towards something he believes is a genuine issue:
"For you big mouth people out there, if y'all want to get mad about something, get mad about the lack of black coaches in the NFL."
Barkley doesn't believe in any "cancel culture" and believes that Woods' light-hearted joke should have been received as such. In Barkley's mind, this was not something that needed to be apologized for, even if it was a bit insensitive.
Tiger Woods' apology for tampon joke
Though they were not well received, Tiger Woods' tampon gesture at the Genesis Invitational was supposed to be fun.
Woods stated that he and Justin Thomas often joke with each other. But the 47-year-old maintained that he was sorry, if someone got offended by the prank.
"It was supposed to be all fun and games and obviously it hasn’t turned out that way. If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun. As I said, 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.”
Not everyone felt that that was an appropriate joke, even between friends. However, newly named Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen didn't find it to be offensive at all (via Outkick):
"I know Tiger quite well. I don't know Justin Thomas as well, but I know kind of Tiger's humour and that's a very probably boyish joke between the two of them and I don't really take it too personal."
Nevertheless, even with those like Pettersen and Barkley behind him, much of the world was not pleased with Tiger Woods.
