A group of about 20 women wearing shirts reading “XX-XY” were escorted out of a Portland Thorns soccer match at Providence Park after what they describe as harassment from other fans, including verbal confrontation and physical contact. The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating the incident.
One of the women involved, commentator Brandi Kruse, described her experience in an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News. Kruse said she and others in the group were approached by stadium security and told to leave, but were never given a clear reason why.
“None. It’s been three days … you hear me in the video demand that security tell me, when they say ‘you need to leave,’ and I say, ‘we didn’t do anything wrong.’ And she says, ‘you know what you did?’ And I said, ‘I have no idea what I did.'”
Kruse said she chose not to leave voluntarily once asked. “And that’s when I just made the decision, look, if they’re going to ask me to leave, I’m going to make them own that decision and they’re going to have to put their hands on me and drag me out of this stadium, because I’m not leaving of my own free will. But we have not gotten an explanation so far,” she said.
The Portland Thorns issued a statement saying the organization is “committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for everyone.” The team also said “security and enforcement decisions are managed locally” and that it is reviewing the incident to ensure policies were “applied appropriately and consistently.”
Kruse noted that responsibility for the stadium is split among multiple parties. Providence Park is owned by the city of Portland but operated by Peregrine Sports, in addition to the Thorns organization itself. “We don’t know who ultimately made the call to say, ‘remove the people with the XX-XY shirts and leave all the individuals around them who were assaulting them, hitting them with flags, dumping beer on them,'” Kruse said.
Kruse also said the women wearing the shirts were not the only ones targeted. She said OutKick reporter Matt Calkins, who was covering the game, was confronted by the crowd and that a security guard tore his press pass from his chest.
Kruse told Ingraham that the security guard who removed her confirmed she did not hold police authority. Kruse said that regardless of how security handled the situation, the response from fans to the shirts was unwarranted. “All they had to do is not react to our t-shirts, be functioning adults in the United States of America. And understand that sometimes you’ll be confronted by ideas you don’t agree with. And the answer to that is not violence,” she said.
The Thorns’ social media account posted a message thanking fans after the match, a post that drew criticism online given the incident occurred the same night.
The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the matter, according to the report.
