Conservatives Furious After U.S. Soccer Changes Crest To Rainbow Colors For World Cup

They may have gotten unexpectedly shellacked in the midterm elections last week in part because of their anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, but that hasn't stopped conservatives from once again losing their cool about the existence of LGBTQ+ people.

Hey, at least they're consistent!

The latest right-wing outrage centers on the U.S. men's soccer team's decision to change the colors of its logo badge for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

The badges have changed from the usual red, white and blue to the colors of the rainbow to signal its support of LGBTQ+ community while playing in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death in some cases.

And predictably, conservatives are hoppin' mad about it.

The logo redesign is part of the U.S. team's "Be the Change" initiative, which was founded in 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The initiative aims to address social injustices and inspire Americans to "make a difference in their community and in their own way."

The rainbow badge is not new and has been used by the team on several previous occasions. It also will not appear on the team's uniforms, but rather as part of the decoration in the team's press area and at parties and other events during the World Cup.

But that of course has not deterred right-wingers from making a stink about the logo. Several bold-faced names on the far-right have mocked the decision, including Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro, pro-Trump commentator Miranda Devine and right-wing Twitter account LibsofTikTok.

But nobody was quite so up in arms about the logo as self-described "theocratic fascist" and Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh, who called the U.S. team "treasonous" because of the logo and suggested they should be barred from re-entering the United States after the World Cup for using it.

He told his viewers in a recent video:

“If I was in charge of the country, they wouldn't be allowed back into the country."

Luckily Walsh isn't in charge of the country, nor will be most of his conservative compatriots come January.

On Twitter, many people found the right's response to a simple logo absurd and infuriating.

In a statement to Reuters, the U.S. team's spokesman Neil Buethe said the aim of the rainbow logo is to "support and embrace the LGBTQ community" and to "promote a spirit of inclusiveness and welcoming to all fans across the globe."

How absurd that anyone would find that controversial.