
<p>In the morning segment on CNN, host Don Lemon went macho man. He lost his woke. ; He FELL through the glass ceiling. ; It all had to do with soccer – and the differential in pay between the men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s teams.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-back-story">Back story</h2>



<p>If you are not up to the details of compensation for sports teams, you first need to know that the national women’s team receives less money – a lot less &#8212; than the men’s team. ; It is because women’s sports do not generate the same level of income – which is based on ticket sales, viewership, and endorsements. ; </p>



<p>That is not a sexist opinion, just a fact of the marketplace. ; The market picks the winners and losers – although those on the left believe that governments should do that.</p>



<p>So, even when women win more international tournaments, they still get less money than their male counterparts. ; In recent years, American women&#8217;s soccer teams have won several soccer championships. ; The men? ; None. ; Yet, men&#8217;s soccer players are receiving millions more dollars than the ladies. ; ;</p>



<p>When the American women’s team won the world cup, they got around $2 million. ; The recent American male team that was eliminated by Argentina received $13 million. ; In fact, if you add up the proceeds from the last three women’s championships, the total prize money was still less than what the losing men’s team received in Qatar.</p>



<p>In a unique exhibit of charity, the American men’s team has pledged half of its winnings to their female counterpart – a multimillion-dollar gift. ; That noble gesture has been praised across the sports reporting world. ; It would mean that the women’s team will receive more money from the guys than they did in those three championship seasons combined. ; All this was explained by CNN’s numbers guru Harry Enten.</p>



<p>Enter Don Lemon. ; Lemon warningly referenced his remarks with, “I am probably going to get into trouble for this.” ; He was not wrong. ; He went on to say that there was no justification for sharing the money because the women’s team does not earn as much as the men’s team. ; ;</p>



<p>Weeell … that brought down the house. His co-hosts, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins were aghast – as Enten. ; It turned into a one-sided shout-down. ; (Lemon never shouts).</p>



<p>The initial rebuttal was that it is simply not fair to pay men more than women. To which Lemon doubled down with great emphasis: “But the men earn more money than the women.”</p>



<p>The counter was that the women actually won more championships than the men. ; But Lemon was not cowed. ; That does matter, he said. ; The men bring in more money.</p>



<p>Lemon then went into the feminist penalty box, declaring that more people want to watch men’s sports. ; That is why they bring in more money. ; The value of a player or a team is how much money they draw. ; They should get paid according to their value.</p>



<p>Anyone who knows how a market economy works knows that Lemon is right.</p>



<p>That is why Tom Brady makes millions more than other players on his team. A team franchise is valued based on the gate, television audience, and endorsements. ; In our politically correct, identity politics world, free market forces are trumped by a redistribution of wealth based on some faux and arbitrary claim of equity.</p>



<p>Lemon was not about to back down. ; </p>



<p>He suggested that people do not watch women’s sports as they do men’s. ; It is not as interesting. ; Being correct is no advantage in the age of political correctness. ; Lemon continued to be verbally pounded. ; The dialogue was hard to hear since Lemon was being verbally brow-beaten in unison.</p>



<p>The shout-down ended when Collins blew the whistle and said they had to move on to some other news.</p>



<p>It was the kind of verbal confrontation you do not see in the tightly scripted world of cable television. ; Or was it a planned event designed to give CNN and Lemon a less hardcore liberal bias. ; I doubt it. ; The flare-up was too real and too intense. Regardless, it was entertaining because Lemon is the last person you would expect to fly into the buzzsaw of left-wing feminist orthodoxy.</p>



<p>The only thing missing was background music by the Village People.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Don Lemon goes macho man
