Before some of them were deleted, memes about Australian Olympic diver Rachael Gunn, aka Raygun, were pure mockery. Videos of her doing cartwheels or hopping like a kangaroo on the competition floor at the Paris Summer Games were accompanied by captions like “what my nephew is doing after telling us all to watch this” or images of Gunn doing cartwheels next to footage of Homer Simpson doing the same. The cringe was endless.
But it was just the beginning, too. The Internet did what it does and criticized Gunn’s performance (which ultimately earned him no medals or a single point), but it also did the opposite. other what he does and got himself into a bit of a dead end as to how exactly someone with less than stellar abilities managed to represent Australia at the Olympics.
That’s when things got complicated.
Shortly after the Olympic breakdancing competition ended, controversy began to arise over how Gunn, a cultural studies professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, had gotten to the Games. People began to question her bona fides, her relationship with the Australian Breaking Associationand whether or not his performance was an insult to the breakup. Someone even started a Change.org petition calling for an investigation into what happened and whether Gunn’s involvement meant a less privileged dancer was not given a chance.
According A report by VoxThe allegations of embezzlement against Gunn are largely unfounded. Some scrapyards in Australia and other countries even They joined together to defend herOthers in his home country said the after-effects of the situation were harsh, telling the guard that Gunn’s performance could affect the ability of other dancers in Australia to gain support.
“How am I going to work now and try to get our sponsorship and grant money for innovative programs[for a sport]that has been made fun of?” Leah Clark, who runs a dance studio in Brisbane, asked the outlet. “This is actually affecting us on a much bigger scale than memes.”
This actually represents a considerable disconnect online. As the past week wore on, Gunn took to Instagram on Thursday to Post a video She said she didn’t realize competing in the Olympics would “open the door to so much hate” and called the experience “devastating.” Bullying is already a huge problem online, but in situations like this, it’s all too easy for genuine criticism to be drowned out by quick jokes and stinging comments.
It’s worth asking what role Gunn’s privilege played in landing his spot (if nothing else, he could afford to participate in qualifying events that might have been out of reach for some) and raising broader questions about the cultural appropriation of breakdancing. (“Raygun deserves an Olympic gold medal for colonizing breakdancing,” Read the headline in El Grio. There is also several threads Out there on this topic, and I encourage you to read them.) Those questions are being raised in various places, but you may not see them until you’ve watched some parodies or reaction videos first.
