Olivia Munn did not appreciate becoming the target of negativity from Green Bay Packers fans this week, so she lashed out in response over social media.
The Packers are 6-3 and have lost three in a row. Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers has gone from starting the season at a near-historically great level to performing well below expectations of late. In response to the team’s slide in the standings, some Packers fans have been looking for a scapegoat, and in the grand tradition of blaming the star quarterback’s girlfriend for a team’s problems, some Packers fans began to blame Munn.
Here is a sampling of the fan comments left on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s site blaming Munn for her boyfriend’s recent slump:
A-Rod needs to choose Munn or the Packers.
— JS Comments (@JSComments) November 16, 2015
Is there an Olivia problem????
— JS Comments (@JSComments) November 16, 2015
It all starts with the quarterback. His new girlfriend's either giving him too much or too little!
— JS Comments (@JSComments) November 16, 2015
Welp pic.twitter.com/po1NCyMIGg
— JS Comments (@JSComments) November 16, 2015
Over the past few days, some prominent websites published stories featuring those comments. The tone of the stories was that Packers fans were beginning to blame Munn for Rodgers’ struggles.
The actress decided to respond with a few tweets early Thursday.
One tweet specifically called out the commenter featured in the “welp” tweet seen above.
Dear, @WashingtonPost @FoxSports and the other news outlets that followed suit. The internet, and especially.. pic.twitter.com/eYeRGaJGdY
— oliviamunn (@oliviamunn) November 19, 2015
Munn also called out ESPN Packers writer Rob Demovsky:
Playing it fast & loose w/the journalism @RobDemovsky. Your professional skills are lacking… you must be having personal problems at home.
— oliviamunn (@oliviamunn) November 19, 2015
Demovsky published an article this week entitled “Five reasons why Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is struggling.” Reason No. 5 pointed to Munn.
From his article:
Possible off-field issues?: A longtime NFL agent told me recently that when he sees one of his top-performing clients play differently, as Rodgers has of late, the first thing he wonders is if something is going on in his personal life. There’s no indication that Rodgers’ relationship status has changed. Lions reporters said they spotted Rodgers’ girlfriend, actress Olivia Munn, at Lambeau Field on Sunday. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that professional athletes have lives away from the field, and you never know what could be going on in their personal lives.
Good for Munn for doing this. She also pointed out that it’s one thing for commenters to say these things, but it’s another for websites to highlight the comments and for a writer to blame her:
The trolls can have their comments, it's not them I'm calling out, it's the journalists. Thanks for the love though @AveryChamp
— oliviamunn (@oliviamunn) November 19, 2015
This line of blaming an athlete’s girlfriend for his struggles is nothing new. Remember when Tony Romo was dating Jessica Simpson and Cowboys fans blamed her for the team’s problems? Or how about when everyone blamed Caroline Wozniacki for Rory McIlroy’s brief downfall? Maybe relationship problems are to blame for some players’ struggles, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Rodgers and Munn have reportedly been dating since early last year. Rodgers seemed to put together a pretty darn awesome season in 2014 despite the relationship. How come no one had an issue with her last year? And why didn’t they say anything about her earlier in the season when Rodgers was crushing it while leading the Packers to a 6-0 record?
Really, if Munn wants a trump card to play on everyone, she should have just tweeted this — proof she’s a good luck charm.
