Serena Williams proved how absurd the sports world’s gender pay-gap is with a powerful punchline.
During her opening monologue at Thursday night’s ESPY Awards, the tennis legend poked fun at one of the “craziest stories in sports this year”: when an investigation found Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani had been fleeced of over $16 million dollars by his translator, Ippei Mizuhara, over two years.
After calling the scandal one of the “craziest stories in sports this year,” Williams said, “Y’all, male athletes get paid so much more than female athletes that they don’t even notice losing $16 million.
“Believe me, I would have noticed,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion added with sass.
After a federal investigation, Mizuhara plead guilty to bank and tax fraud, admitting he stole the eight-figure sum to help pay off an astronomical $142 million gambling debt.
It’s almost impossible to imagine the same happening to any female athlete.
Last year, pro sports’ highest paid female player was tennis champ Coco Gauff, who raked in just under $23 million, according to sports business outlet Sportico.
Gauff’s earnings are a paltry sum compared to the athletic world’s biggest earner. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo made a whopping $275 million between his salary and a lucrative list of endorsements.
Not a single female athlete even cracked the top 100 on Sportico’s list.
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