Phoebe Bridgers took time out of her Melbourne show last night to blast Australia’s controversial tennis legend Margaret Court.
While playing at – you guessed it – the city’s Margaret Court Arena, Bridgers suddenly came for the arena’s namesake during her set (as per NME).
“So, Margaret Court… F*ck that stupid-ass, dumbass bitch. Fuck that stupid c*nt. Change your name!” she shouted to roars of approval from the crowd.
The singer-songwriter wasn’t done there, going on to extoll the pleasure in “hate.”
“I think hate is undervalued,” she told the crowd after leading them in a frenzied chorus of ‘Fuck market Court.” “I think it’s a f*cking weird white supremacist idea that hate is bad or something. You know what I mean?
“It’s like hate is like what moves things throughout history. I have that stupid bitch. Hate is how you protect yourself. What, are you never supposed to be angry, ever?”
There are, of course, myriad reasons for Bridgers’ vitriol. Court, while once a beloved player in her heyday, has been very outspoken against same-sex marriage in Australia, a stance that has seriously damaged her legacy. Court publicly opposed reforms to laws in Australia in the past, and has also made criticised comments about transp people.
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“And you know with that LGBT, they’ll wish they never put the T on the end of it because, particularly in women’s sports, they’re going to have so many problems. You know, even that LGBT in the schools, it’s the devil, it’s not of God,” she said back in 2019.
That’s why there have been several public appeals to rename the Australian Open arena. Fellow tennis legend Martina Navratilova has previously called for her former hero’s name to be removed from the arena. As per ESPN, Navratilova once insisted Margaret Court Arena should be renamed in honour of Evonne Goolagong, another iconic Aussie tennis star, who Navratilova thinks truly embodies “what a role model or hero truly is.”
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